The Undersecretary of Oman’s Education Ministry, with responsibility for Administrative and Financial Affairs has issued Oman Circular No. 54/2020 on the regulation of private school operations. It follows a decision from the Sultanate’s Supreme Anti-Coronavirus Committee. Schools will reopen on 1 November but will have to comply with anti-Coronavirus measures. Students will learn in person and remotely. Students in grades one to 11 will learn 50% in person and 50% remotely or one third, one third and one third depending on the capacity of schools. Students in twelfth grade will attend in person all the time. They will have to comply with anti-Coronavirus measures. Parents of students in these grades who want them to learn remotely all of the time will have to submit a written application to obtain the school’s consent in line with the Education Ministry’s general framework. Where the school is unable to provide services remotely, the guardian should be able to choose another private school which can provide this service to the student. Remote learning can be undertaken 100% of the time where the school is able to do so. Children in kindergartens will be taught remotely all of the time and if they cannot be, they will not run or open. Schools which have not provided the Ministry with the proposed operational plan cannot start the school year for their students until the mechanisms are approved. Anyone who violates these rules will be prosecuted. Full story
