مجلس التعليم

An extract from a speech by the late Sultan Qaboos bin Said, may his soul rest in peace, on the opening of The Annual Session of The Council of Oman, 1st October 2005

" Praise be to God, during the comprehensive development march and with determination, diligence, patience and persistence, many achievements have been possible in each of these areas in which we take pride, particularly in the field of the development of human resources. We did – and still do – firmly believe that the development of these resources is the cornerstone of the development process in any society because the human being – as we have always stressed on different occasions – is the ultimate goal and aim of development as well as being its means and its producer.

As long as society succeeds in raising, developing, qualifying, training, enhancing skills and diversifying the experience of its human resources, success is guaranteed in building a modern state with progress in all aspects of life. We thank God the Almighty for granting us success in spreading education at all levels and in all its many branches, accompanied by training programmes which are provided by the government and private educational institutions to which the government sends our sons and daughters to qualify in different specialisations. This has provided them with greater and more opportunities to acquire knowledge and practical training, which in turn has prepared them to enter the labour market and to contribute to the building of society.

In this respect, we would like to point out that the government has made great efforts over the previous period to provide opportunities for the qualification and training of Omani youths, boys and girls. However, we have observed through our continuous follow-up and monitoring of the successive stages of social development that some members of society have not been able to utilise their inner abilities and financial capabilities to improve themselves and develop their skills to avail themselves of suitable job opportunities. Thus, it has become necessary to assist them to obtain the qualifications and training they need. We therefore instruct our government to set up a suitable mechanism through which assistance can be provided to this sector enabling them to obtain useful occupations. Thereby – God willing – they can benefit from the job opportunities that are available".