Job Discussion Forums

[joleen7]

hi all
anyone working there? any info please? ( calibre of student, atmposhere, stress levels )
Thanks

[EFL Educator]

Well you won't need to be concerned about the stress levels and studens there...they are wonderful to teach all be it very friendly....it's the salary that you should be concerned about....which is very low for Oh Man!

[madrileno]

It's in the middle of the Bowsher district in Muscat, so depending how far away your accommodation is, the commute may test your patience every day.

[joleen7]

thanks for the replies
it can't be as low as Southern Europe, I guess?

[veiledsentiments]

I doubt that there are any of their teachers who are members here. It was the last place that I worked in Oman many years ago when it was quite new and in its original building in al-Khuwair. I was teaching writing and business. It was small and relaxed, with lovely students of mixed nationality, and a pretty well organized and easy to work with management that was all Omani. I looked at the faculty list and it seems to now be mainly Omani, Indian, and other Arab with just a handful of Westerners. All of the people that I worked with there have moved on, even the Omani managers that I worked with have retired, but if you can tolerate the low pay, it is likely still a pleasant place to work.

Because most, if not all, of the students are paying tuition, they are more academically oriented. I found that the mix of nationalities at the student level certainly added to the teaching experience. Seems that EFL educator has the impression that it is still similar to back in my day.

One warning is that it is still likely doing split shifts because of students who work during the day and take courses at night. Summer leave was also short (only 5-6 weeks whereas all of my other contracts had 8 or more) because of the summer session.

VS

[joleen7]

thanks very much, Veiled
when you say low, how low is it, do you know please ? ( more or less)

[veiledsentiments]

Not a clue since I haven't known anyone there for years. I would guess... purely a guess... is that it will lower than the recruiter jobs out in the hinterlands. When I was there, they provided furnished flats, but who knows now.

Why not apply and see if they make an offer? Then you can tell us.

VS

[balqis]

If Indian teachers form the majority of their faculty, then the pay will be low for sure, unless they have a different scale for the white skin. Certainly less than the 1000 cash in hand for MoHE/MoM contracts. Plus housing will be darn dear in Muscat.

I interviewed with a few colleges in Muscat and the pay was always low - or never revealed once I revealed my expected salary in reply to their question about it - except one place where it was also low, but they wanted to offer me a different pay than the rest of their faculty made [ the Indians were on some 800 OR salary, I was to be on 1300, and pay my own flat ].

In general the main reward of Muscat jobs seems to be Muscat herself - and a genuine reward it is ! - unless you work for the Military College, where all TEFL aristocrats and gentry clubbed together to make a lot of money.


balqis

[Tazz]

Muscat-hugely overrated and hugely expensive.......800 OMR a month to live and work there??!!!

[balqis]

Yes, 800 or so, this is what the HoD told me. I was to be the first non-Indian lecturer there.

But the Omani Indians have been in Muscat for generations, they are not expats in the sense you are, i..e. somebody who comes over with a single 20 kg piece of luggage for a contract and needs to rent a flat. They have families in Muscat, husbands and parents who have worked in Oman, have been settled there for decades and will stay there for decades. Not always of course, but very often this is the case.
Many of them are so called ''Indian bania'', i.e. an old caste of people very skilled in saving money, the way we are unable to imagine, and since they are very often strict vegetarians, they know how to spend on food say 20 OR monthly. The hectic overpouring sleek Indian shop assistant at a Dhamas gold shop for example is a skilled and trained Indian banya. He will sell his mother if enough profit is to be made. After all, Ramdas Khimji was an Indian himself, and his life story shows how far Indians have reached and how near the top they have mounted in Oman as traders.

balqis

[Whatever will be]

Thank you balqis for sharing - very interesting contribution.

The Indians in my workplace also receive 800 Rial. Some have been working in the Middle East/Oman for the entire length of their professional lives.

Ways of saving money on food include living of rice and filling water bottles from the tap at the local mosque.

The Indian workers in the local laundry sleep in the shop, thus avoiding renting a place and doubling up as a security guard. They get their clothes washed for free, cut their own hair and have virtually no transportation costs.

Any free time is used to relax in the local park or on the beach, which they walk to. The only thing that does cost them are their communication needs (phone, internet)

[balqis]

Yes, that is all true, Whatever will be [ with greetings WWB!], therefore the cheapest way to shop in Oman is to go to shops where the Bania buy food, i.e. cheap grocery stores with mostly Indian products.
Indian Banias are the Jews of the East, and their instinct for and skill with money is genuinely Semitic. They simply multiply money, doesn't matter how little it is. Their wives are the most regular customers of gold shops in Oman, and they buy gold monthly, this is what I heard, even though they will spend on food 20 OR a month.
Ramdas Khimji was licensed for trade in Oman by the Sultan himself, I think the grandfather of Sultan Qaboos. He was also his friend, from what I know. The Lulu chain is another business where Indian Banias are heavily involved.
This is why most business lecturers in Oman will be Indians, for the Bania talent they have and the unique skill of always saying ''Yes'', and this ''Yes'' is made of 24K gold.
'From my observation, the way Indian lecturers manage Omani students who come to trade for their grades is another hallmark of their commercial genius as well as their unique skill of saying ''Yes'' - and the ''yes'' is made of 24K gold! - to all. Admirable indeed to observe an Indian lecturer and an Arab student, doing their business, their talk being one of the sweetest talks one will hear on our planet, full of mutual graces and sweet enamoured - I will do all to make you happy - banter [ and no offence meant here, just paying tribute to life as it is in Oman].

balqis

[Whatever will be]

Thank you balqis for the greetings, sending them right back to you

Indeed, I have also observed these negotiations between Indian teachers and Omani students. There is also a "trade agreement" that the Indian teachers get high evaluations from the students in return for awarding high marks for assignments. Perhaps it is this strategy that has enabled Indians to rise and subsequently occupy most middle management positions in the educational institution(s), at least that's the case where I work. Their collective stronghold is almost impossible to break for other nationalities.

Add to this the base salary of 800 Rial, their willingness/ability to speak Arabic, conversion to the religion of Islam and you have a most attractive employee.

Being most agreeable, patient and able to negotiate the system to maximize personal profits and enhance one's position are highly valued.

The ability to teach is less important than winning this popularity contest.

What do we learn from these observations for our own professional situation and future prospects? Discuss!

[balqis]

Yes WWB, in my experience Indians know how to climb and their climbing has feline nature, perfect and trusted servants to their Sahib.
I know that if Omani students want to have an easy ride across a semester, they will sign up for courses with an Indian lecturer. There is a mutual exchange of favours for graces at perfect equilibrium, so the play works gently and moves on like a minuet.
Indian lecturers are also very well-mannered, unusually smooth and sleek and at face value deferential, oily in their deference, and therapeutic in their passive and submissive manner. I am sure they wait on the students like servants at the Ritz or flight attendants on their Business Class passengers, so classes with them must be like classes in deep relaxation. Have you ever noticed how tamed their voices often are and how irresistible is the flow of their talk? They simply mesmerize by something deeply guttural in their speech and the way they sway gently heads and roll their eyes when they talk. Admirable indeed.

balqis