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CEC Network in Oman - Any comments?
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MindTraveller



Joined: 13 Mar 2003
Posts: 89
Location: Oman

PostPosted: Mon Aug 30, 2004 6:49 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Dear Veiled Sentiments,

No, I didn't damn the whole country - just all the administrators and Ministry of Higher Education of Oman - the government ministry - which runs the six Higher Colleges of Education. And many of my former colleagues - not all.

Oman is turning into the Korea of Arabia because of mismanagement at all levels. In 10-15 years, there's going to be chaos in the Omani educational field when all the Omanis are teaching - grads of the colleges -and more educated Omani parents are going to complain themselves.

The students themselves - women students - are excellent. I just felt 45 students in a class, and giving them material that was impossible for them to do was a great disservice to them. Sure the syllabus says class size of 25 but that was extremely rare. Even the IEP has 28 students in it. But those students are great because they are motivated. However, the administratation at my college was failing them - not providing good teachers or assistance to the teachers in the new program.
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MindTraveller



Joined: 13 Mar 2003
Posts: 89
Location: Oman

PostPosted: Mon Aug 30, 2004 7:22 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Deleted info, but can't delete message.... getting slower and slower on technology as I age...........

Last edited by MindTraveller on Tue Sep 28, 2004 4:35 am; edited 1 time in total
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veiledsentiments



Joined: 20 Feb 2003
Posts: 17644
Location: USA

PostPosted: Mon Aug 30, 2004 2:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Mindtraveller,

I am glad that you cleared up what you meant, because from your previous message, this is what you had said:

"I am sooo glad to have left Oman, now that I hear they couldn't get the well-educated and trained Tunisians, they're hiring the no-experienced Westerners...."

"So beware. Teaching in Oman is not very rewarding because of all the rigged testing and the non-native vs. native speaking jealousy and the dim-witted Westernerns keeping..."

As you can see, you damned with a very wide brush the whole country and it was unclear that you actually meant the one employer (granted one of the theoretically more important employers).

Oman is in a race against time. The population explosion that came after the development of the 70's has left them with thousands of children to educate and a population who looks at the Emirates and says, 'we want what they have.' Unfortunately, Oman has only a tiny fraction of the income with a larger population. Much of the chaos within the Ministry system is a reflection of their attempts to rapidly develop an educational system that doesn't rely on imported teachers that they can't afford. How it will all play out remains to be seen, but I do have hope because Omanis in general are a people who are not afraid to work.

Most likely the system will only improve once Omanis do take over - at all levels of the system. Then they will have to face the problems and correct them - without being able to blame or lean on the expatriates. I first arrived in Oman 16 years ago, and they have come a long way since then. The big problem area left is education and I hope that they can make the transition in that area as they have done quite successfully in others.

VS
PS: you might want to go in and edit out your duplicate posting using the button at the top right.
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