One teacher for every 11 students in Oman

While all the government schools in the Sultanate have an average of 418 students, the ratio of students per teacher stood at 11 during the academic year 2018-2019.

According to a bulletin issued by the Ministry of Education, the number of students per class averaged 26 during the period.

The total number of students in various grades in the Sultanate reached 805,329 in about 1,927 schools. These schools have 30,502 classrooms, with the number of teachers reaching 70,285 during the period.

In the academic year 2017/2018, the gross ratio of enrollment in the first-grade classes, which indicates the number of newly-enrolled children regardless of age, reached 101.3 per cent, states the bulletin.

While issuing the data, the Ministry of Education said that all efforts were made for the development of pre-school and school education, and continuing education.

“The ministry has made every effort to improve education, innovation and curricula to make education more responsive to the future needs of the society,” it said. According to the data, the gross enrollment ratio in grades 1 to 6 in the academic year 2017/2018 recorded at 100.9 per cent, while for grades 7 to 9 it was at 103.9 per cent.

As for grades 10 to 12, it was at 96.6 per cent, and for preschool education grades, it was at 50.2 per cent during the same academic year.

The data also shows that the amended adjusted net enrollment ratio in grades 1 to 6 was 98.3 per cent, and in grades 7 to 9, was at 96.5 per cent.

For grades 10 to 12, it was at 86.7 per cent while the survival rate of student in grade 6 was 99.6 per cent.

Public school students make up 75.3 per cent of the total school students in Oman, reaching 606,153, followed by private schools with 14.4 per cent of the total school students in Oman, reaching 116,483.

International schools accounted for 7.9 per cent of students, with the numbers reaching 63,391.

The other kind of public schools, which include Islamic institutes, schools of the Royal Guard of Oman, schools affiliated to the Royal Aviation school of Oman, schools of the Royal Oman Police, educational centres affiliated to the Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs and nurseries belonging to Omani woman’s associations, have 2.3 per cent of the total school students in Oman, reaching 18,777, while special education schools reach 0.1 per cent, with 525 students. The highest percentage of students in the schools of the Sultanate in the academic year 2018/2019 was in the second stage of the basic education sector of grades (5-10), making up 39.1 per cent of the total students of Omani schools, reaching 314,961 students, including 161,716 males and 153,245 females.

The first stage of the basic education sector of grades 1 to 4 had 32.3 per cent of the total school students, reaching 259,920 students, including 131,897 males and 128,023 females while school education after the basic grades of 11-12 was about 10.8 per cent, reaching 86,625, including 43,970 males and 42,655 females.

As for kindergartens centres, they accounted for 10.9 per cent of the students, reaching 88,019 students, including 44,519 males and 43,500 females while the other stages of education,

including general education for grades of 1 to 12 in international schools and schools of the Royal Guard of Oman and institutes of Islamic students was 6.9 per cent, with 55,804 students, of whom 29,194 were males and 26,610 were females.