Education ministry signs six pacts with private sector: Oman

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Muscat: The Ministry of Education signed six Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) with a number of private sector institutions that support Oman Science Festival 2022, under the patronage of Dr. Madiha bint Ahmed Al Shaibaniyah, Minister of Education. The signing took place at the Ministry’s headquarter on Thursday.

Dr. Abdullah bin Khamis Ambosaidi, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Education for Education stated: “We were pleased to sign six MoUs with the institutions supporting Oman Science Festival, which believed in the power of the idea, its richness, its importance and its benefit not only to education and science, but also to the economy in general, and to the private sector itself, stressing that the support provided is to implement the third edition of the Oman Science Festival, which will be held in October 2022.”

“It will contribute significantly to motivating students in schools, colleges, and universities to pay more attention to science, innovation, and creativity in general, as the festival targets all segments of society, especially school and university students, with the aim of spreading science to everyone. Today, science and technology are the engine and developer of societies,” he added.

Dr. Abdullah bin Khamis Ambosaidi signed three MoUs. The first agreement was signed with Oman Telecommunications Company (OmanTel). The agreement was signed by Eng. Alaa Eddin bin Abdullah Beit Fadel, Commercial Chief Executive Officer of the company, in the presence of Sheikh Talal bin Saeed Al Maamari, CEO of Oman Telecommunications Company (Omantel).

The second agreement was signed with Petroleum Development Oman (PDO). The agreement was signed by Eng. Mohammed bin Ahmed Al-Gharibi, Director of External Affairs and Communications at the company, in the presence of its representative, Engineer Abdul Amir bin Abdul-Hussein Al-Ajmi, Executive Director of Foreign Affairs and Added Value.

The third agreement was signed with Khimji Ramdas Corporation (Eshraqa Corporation). The agreement was signed by Mahmoud bin Khalifa Al-Saqri, General Manager of the Group’s Social Responsibility, in the presence of the company’s representative Sheikh Anil Khimji Ramdas, member of the Board of Directors of Khimji Ramdas.

Subsequently, Majid bin Saeed Al-Bahri, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Education for Administrative and Financial Affairs, signed three MoUs. The first was signed with the Oman Liquefied Natural Gas Company Development Corporation.

The agreement was signed by Engineer Ismail bin Suleiman Al-Sawafi, Director-General of Social Responsibility and Public Relations, in the presence of its representative, Dr. Amer bin Nasser Al-Mata’ani, CEO of the Corporation.

The second agreement was signed with Bank Sohar. The agreement was signed by Abdul Wahed bin Muhammad Al-Murshidi, head of the Islamic banking group at the bank, and in the presence of the bank’s representative, Ahmed bin Jaafar Al-Musalmi, CEO of Bank Sohar.

The third agreement was signed with both Oman Shell Development Company and Shell Marketing Company. The agreement was signed by Barir Al Lawati, Director of External Affairs from Shell Marketing, and Guy Dekort from Shell Development Company, in the presence of company representative Saeed Al Rawahi, Director of Government Relations from Shell Development.

It is worth noting that these agreements aim to support the efforts of establishing the festival and spreading science among all segments of society, making it a distinguished qualitative event that the community eagerly anticipates, enhancing societal awareness of the role played by various institutions in the fields of science and innovation, and linking society to pressing contemporary scientific issues and presenting them in an interactive and atypical manner.

The signing of agreements with the supporting institutions comes as a commitment to the social responsibility that it directed to the Oman Science Festival, and its belief in the importance and high value of the festival, and its service to society in general and the student in particular, which achieves the Oman 2040 vision.

Guy Dekort, Director of Operate Adventure at Shell Development Company, said: “I am delighted to be here today and support this initiative because I believe in the importance of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education that supports student interests and seeks to attract more students to engineering in general, and the female element in particular to the field of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, and we at Oman Shell would like to have more technical students not only in Oman, but globally.”

Engineer Alaa Eddin Bin Abdullah Bait Fadel, Commercial Chief Executive Officer of Oman Telecommunications Company (Omantel), said: “Omantel’s support for the Oman Science Festival continues over its three editions, and this year we are participating as a technical partner for the festival, which is concerned with developing scientific skills for students with different educational levels. It enjoys wide participation from college and university students in the Sultanate, and we hope that this festival will be a positive reflection in developing young people’s skills and qualifying them for future skills and sciences.”

Eng. Ismail bin Suleiman Al-Sawafi, Director-General of Social Responsibility and Public Relations at the Oman LNG Development Corporation, said: We are honored to support the Oman Science Festival in its third edition, which is closely linked to the national goals of Oman Vision 2040, as this sponsorship represents the Oman LNG’s endeavour to link theory with practice, and we are fully confident that the activities at the festival, whether they are scientific workshops or competitions and scientific sessions, will complement this effort.”