Muscat, July 2 - The State Council approved on Tuesday the proposal of “Organising Advertising” submitted by the Committee of Culture, Information and Tourism, and the proposal “Development of training system aligned to education” submitted by the Education and Research Committee. The 15th Regular session of the Council was chaired by Dr Yahya bin Mahfoudh al Mantheri, Chairman of the State Council. The head of the Committee of Culture, Information and Tourism, Dr Ahmed bin Ali Mohammed al Mashikhi presented the Committee’s statement and said that the advertising industry has evolved into an independent sector globally, contributing largely to the gross domestic product, promoting economic development and strengthening the financial capabilities of media outlets.
To enhance the value of the proposal, the Committee had hosted several government and private sector officials related to advertising in the Sultanate, to examine the facts, challenges and constraints involved. This has enabled the formulation of appropriate recommendations for the development of the sector as an important source of national income in the Sultanate. Following this, Hatim Hamed Issa al Tai, the Committee’s rapporteur, detailed the recommendations of the study, which includes creating a law that regulates and controls the advertising sector in the Sultanate, unifies the regulatory authorities for advertising, street advertisements and paintings pending the promulgation of the required law.
In addition, it required that the advertising sector support monitoring of its results by the National Centre for Statistics and Information, in order to ensure sustained growth and development and optimise its capacity to provide national human resources with jobs in the areas of design, promotion and marketing.
The Committee also emphasises on the need of control over street advertisements, create mechanisms to motivate and encourage local companies operating in the advertising sector and establish controls to curb external competition in this area.
The proposal was approved by the Council following discussions, with the formation of a technical Drafting committee to include the opinion of the members.
The session then discussed the proposal of the “Development of the training system aligned to education” submitted by the Committee of Education and Research.
Dr Abdullah Mubarak Salim al Shanfari, Head of the Committee on Education and Research, said that the study analyses the capacity of the education system to equip the students with essential practical skills for employment and highlight the challenges of linking theoretical education with practical aspects. It also delivers recommendations that promote development of a training system aligned to education, so that it delivers optimum benefits to the students.
He noted that a subcommittee had been set up to study the topic by hosting officials from several relevant actors. The study links education to human resources and addresses the challenges of increasing numbers of job-seekers.
Underscoring the requirement to perform this study, he stressed on the accelerating changes caused by contemporary life, especially in the fields of technology and communication.
Since major changes are expected in the coming years in the nature of jobs created by the labour market, it necessitates the adoption of a systematic vision in terms of quality of skills that the future jobs need, and there is a clear path to developing these skills.
Dr Rashid Abdullah Masoud al Yahyai, the Rapporteur of the Committee, presented a review of the study and its findings, which were discussed extensively, followed by the Council’s endorsement of the proposal and the formation of a drafting committee to include the comments and opinions of the members.
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