Enrolment of students rises in Oman, diploma course bucks trend

Muscat: The National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI) has released key educational data for the Sultanate, which shows significant increase in the number of schools across government and private sector, as well as increase in enrolment of students across educational levels barring diploma and vocational education.

In the year 2020-21, the number of government schools (class 5-10) increased by 10.3 per cent to 866 schools as compared to the number during 2015-2016. The number of students at government schools (class 5-10) stood at 370,461 representing 55.2 per cent of the total number of students. The number of GCC students stood at 462, representing 0.1 per cent of the total students.

The number of private nursery schools (class 1-4) increased to 326 in 2020 compared to 16 in 1989 with 55.5 per cent in Muscat Governorate. The number of government nursery schools (class 1-4) for school year 2020-2021 stood at 589 with 262,411 students compared to 16 schools accommodating 328 students in 1971, according to the NCSI statistics.

The number of students in class 11-12 for the school year 2020-2021 amounted to 101,445, representing 12.3 per cent of the total students in the schools of the Sultanate. Omani students amounted to 90.9 per cent and GCC students 0.1 per cent.    
The number of students admitted to diploma programmes in 2020-2021 within the Sultanate decreased by 30. 1 per cent to 2,735 compared to the previous year. The number of students admitted to vocational qualification (diploma) at the government universities and colleges for the academic year 2019-2020 decreased by 9.2 per cent from 651 students to 591 students compared to the previous year.

The number of students in the age group 18-24 years admitted to the diploma/vocational diploma at the private universities and colleges stood at 61 per cent while the students within the same age group admitted to government universities and colleges stood at 39 per cent for the academic year 2019-2020.

The number of students from within and outside the Sultanate registered to the bachelor’s degree level or equivalent for the academic year 2019-2020 amounted to some 109,061– an increase of 13 per cent compared to the previous year.