مجلس التعليم

An extract from a speech by the late Sultan Qaboos bin Said, may his soul rest in peace, on the occasion of the 4th National Day, 18 November 1974

" let us make a pause here, and revert to the beginning of July 1970 to find out where we were and where we stand today.

In the field of education: In 1970, we started from scratch. All of you know and we can say for sure that we have succeeded in this field. The educational plan, both in quality and quantity has succeeded in all the primary stages.

We have now moved to a higher as well as vocational education. Our object in providing both the vocational and higher education is to enable our children to receive their education in its various stages in their mother country. We would however, wish to draw the attention of our students studying abroad, to beware of being seduced by foreign ideas. We should make it clear that these elements are jealous of our achievements and progress, and they plan to retard the pace of our progress.

Oh my sons, you witness the vast progress which education in our country has achieved, and the expansion of the numbers of schools, students, teachers and scholarships. It is enough to declare that the education sanctions for this year amount to RO9,458,368 compared to RO1,031,879 for the year 1970\71. This in itself is proof of the extent of our interest in the advancement of the people of our country and our insistence to make as rapid a progress as possible.

We give all our energy and potential to the welfare of our students abroad. For this reason we have decided to form a Permanent Committee to look after them and fulfil their needs. This committee will make periodical visits to the countries where they study to examine their problems and make solutions for them. We pray to God for their success".