Muscat:
The new 2012/2013 academic session in Oman will start on August 25 but pupils will return to school only from September 8, according to education minister Dr Madeeha Bint Ahmad Al Shaibani. The academic year ends on June 26, 2013.
The teaching and administrative staff of schools must resume duty on August 25. The re-sit exams for the General Education Diploma (GED) will be held from August 26 to September 5.
The period from August 28 to September 5 will be dedicated for vocational development programmes, both for teaching jobs and related jobs.
Dr Madeeha said that, for pupils, the school year will start on September 8 and the first semester will conclude on January 30, 2013. Registration of those wishing to join the Literacy and Adult Education System begins on September 10 and conclude on October 31, while classes in this stream will start on September 15.
The registration of fresh pupils for the first class of Basic Education at public schools begins on October 13 and concludes on December 26, while the registration of fresh pupils for kindergartens and the first private education sessions for the school year 2013-2014 will begin on December 20.
Meanwhile, the Higher Education Admission Centre (HEAC) at the Ministry of Higher Education (MoHE) has announced that this year 1,643 qualified higher secondary graduates will be provided external government scholarships.
A statement released by the ministry stated that an external, merit-based scholarship will enable qualified and competitively selected Omani candidates — who graduated from school this year — to enrol in an undergraduate degree programme at selected overseas higher education institutions (HEIs).
The US and the UK have long been popular study destinations offering high-quality education, while the number of Omani students is steadily growing in other destinations such as Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, Germany, The Netherlands and Malaysia. Students can now apply for scholarships in Austria, Malta, Poland and Turkey as well.
“The MoHE is looking forward to sending students to a number of reputable HEIs that meet international quality standards, as well as the criteria set by the ministry,” a spokesperson for the MoHE said in a press release.
“Once a student has been awarded with a scholarship to the UK, Ireland, Poland or The Netherlands, he or she will have to sit for an English language ability test in August first in order to determine where to place the student,” the spokesperson pointed out.
