Demand for private schools goes high

Specialists at the Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OCCI) clarified that growth indicators of private educational institutions are high and demand for private schools increased during the last ten years.

This trend was discussed at the seventh regular meeting of the third annual session (2021-2022) of the Education and Scientific Research Committee of the Majlis Ash’shura on Tuesday.

The meeting was chaired by Jamal bin Ahmed al Abri, Head of the Committee, in the presence of Ahmed bin Saeed al Balushi, Head of the Education Committee at the OCCI, officials and committee members. The committee met to study the issue of a partnership between the private and government sectors in education.

It discussed the role of the private sector in school education in enriching the educational process. The head of the Chamber’s Education Committee stressed that the private education sector is promising and it achieved rapid growth and is ready for investment and partnership with the government sector.

A visual presentation during the meeting highlighted the private educational sector’s awareness of the importance of public schools operations and its readiness to raise efficiency.

The attendees talked about the study conducted by the chamber’s specialists on operational contracting for public schools, the premises of that study, and the patterns of a partnership between the government sector and the private educational sector. Some studies have reviewed the regional and global experiences highlighting the countries that have made strides in this field.

The committee members inquired about the challenges of the contractual school system, the Sultanate of Oman’s readiness to work according to educational and economic indicators and the legal and legislative frameworks currently in force.

They also threw light on the role of the operational contracting system in raising the efficiency of education in public schools and how to deal with them, with regard to the employment of teachers if the operational contract for public schools is approved.