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17-08-2020

Muscat Daily

The Ministry of Education has launched an e-Library platform to support the ongoing national efforts of e-learning towards a competitive digital education society and in response to the recent school closures caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Reiterating its commitment to the community, National Bank of Oman (NBO) has joined hands with the Ministry of Education for the launch e-Library platform.

The digital library provides various services for students and teachers in schools, representing a cornerstone of virtual learning resources, including various knowledge and learning materials that are classified and arranged according to schools’ requirements. ‘The e-Library represents an invaluable resource for educational researchers in graduate studies and will also feature published educational research including master’s and doctoral theses,’ stated a press release.

The digital library, which will be available through a custom mobile app, will have a number of state-of-the-art features including a comprehensive control panel, a publishing tool, as well as being linked to other libraries in the sultanate and abroad. Alongside the initiative, the ministry is also developing an e-learning platform, a sustainable portal for students to receive their assignments, upload, and share them. The e-Library will also provide various statistics and digital indicators, while implementing the scientific classification system for educational resources, among other benefits.

Dr Nasser al Abri, director general of Information Technology at the Ministry of Education, said, “We value mutual partnerships with the private sector institutions like NBO, who play an important role in the development of our nation. Our e-Library is a big stepping stone as we continue building our competitiveness in digital learning. With these new platforms, we will make sure that teachers utilise various resources in teaching, while students continue to be taught uninterrupted, and they will benefit schools and students in every region and city in the sultanate for generations to come. The e-library will also be available for all employees within the Ministry to benefit from, with the potential of creating sub e-libraries for a more inclusive service to all.”

Hassan Shaban, general manager, Chief Government Banking Officer at NBO, said, “At NBO, we believe we have an important part to play in the sultanate’s digital transformation and its overall economic wellbeing. Education is critical to the nation’s development and a central focus of our CSR initiatives and as such, we were eager to lend our support for this particular project. We have learnt a lot from the COVID-19 pandemic about the growing importance of other, non-traditional forms of learning, and we praise the efforts of the Ministry of Education in securing the future of Oman’s young people.”

The National Bank of Oman is keen to consolidate its fruitful partnership with the Ministry of Education by supporting its various initiatives aimed at enhancing the skills and capabilities of the future generation of ambitious Omani students and youth. For example, the bank supported the second edition of the Oman Science Festival organised by the ministry, in order to embrace innovators, interact with them and highlight their capabilities and talents.

The bank also provides training courses to Omani employees at the Ministry of Education to support them and help them achieve their ambitions and career goals. The bank’s efforts also include organising the annual 'Hackathon' competition, which is a platform for innovation, allowing Omani youth to find original technical ideas that will leave a positive impact in the world.