The world is unanimous that pre-school is the foundation of the educational system, which shapes the personality of the child. Education of kids requires special handling and educational attention. So, we can never accept that nurseries are just for profit-making or as a laboratory for experiments.
Pre-schools without supervision or control of Ministry of Education violate Article Two of the Royal Decree No 68/1977. This decree is further supported by a decision issued by the Council of Ministers in 2008.
But some of these centres are still operating without the supervision of governmental agencies.
It is a very serious issue, especially as concerns the future generations. We cannot tolerate violation of Oman’s Child Law, issued by the Royal Decree No. 22/2014 .
Some of the Sultanate’s innocent children in these centres continue to receive unsupervised educational services.
Therefore, what they receive doesn’t contribute to the enhancement or development of their mental skills and abilities, because the curricula are not quality-inspected and most of those teachers working in these centres are not professional or qualified for this great mission.
We do not know the exact number of these unregulated centres or the number of children who are studying in such centres. Due to the lack of supervision, the possibilities are open to all wrong practices as these students in are not registered in the e-portal.
The private schools face obstacles in continuing its mission as they compete with unregulated centres. This will impact onthe investments pumped into the private education sector which hosts more than 100,000 students.
It is known for all that all nurseries, KGs and private schools are subject to local regulations and laws applicable and evaluation. But, at the same time these unlicensed centres are not subject to these regulations and rules. Some of them have more than thirty branches throughout the Sultanate and run advertising campaigns.
The fact is these were established as centres for providing educational services and not as nurseries or KGs to escape from being supervised by the Ministry of Education or the Ministry of Social Development. Child right is a critical and starts with providing quality education by licensed service providers.
So, all concerned parties and competent authorities have to take action as soon as possible. The children are the future of our nation. We all have to cooperate and exert unwavering efforts to build a bright future.
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