UNESCO praises Oman’s expansion in pre-basic, basic education stages

28/06/2020

Paris: The 2020 Global Education Monitoring (GEM) report, recently released by the UNESCO, praised the Sultanate’s experience in expanding in pre-basic and basic education stages. It affirmed that high enrollment rate of students in these stages in the Sultanate confirms the success of its efforts to provide education for everyone.

The GEM report also praised the high percentage of students with minimum levels of proficiency in mathematics at secondary schools in the Sultanate, noting that this percentage increases among girls.

The report said that over the past few months, the impacts of novel Coronavirus (Covid-19) prevented millions of children and adolescents all over the world from attending schools, which has exacerbated the issue of inequality.

The report further said that with more than 90 percent of students in the world affected by the closure of schools due to Covid-19, the world is witnessing an unprecedented turmoil in the history of education. In the Arab world, the actions deprived 17 million children of education because of poverty, which exposed and deepened inequalities.

The report emphasized that there is an opportunity in such a crisis, particularly in rebuilding more inclusive education systems.

Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO said, “In order to meet the challenges of our time, it is necessary to find more comprehensive education. Rethinking the future of education is the most important issue after the Covid-19 pandemic, because the epidemic further expanded and highlighted inequality, and the failure to find solutions would hinder the progress of societies.”