All expat students in Oman must get resident cards

All expat students must get a resident card from Royal Oman Police, according to the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Education.

Major private schools and community schools have sent circulars to parents about the revised guidelines.

A circular from Indian School Muscat says that all the Indian Schools have been instructed to maintain a record of the resident card copies of all the students enrolled in the school.

Parents shall provide copy of the resident card of their wards to the school latest by September 9, it said.

ISM said submitting the resident card copy shall be a prerequisite for admission to Indian Schools. In case of an exception, schools shall grant a maximum of one month from the date of registration to the parent to submit the same.

Speaking to the Observer, Dr Sivakumar Manickam, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Indian Schools, the largest private school network in Oman, said that the Board has advised all parents to follow the same.

"We have advised all parents to get their child a resident card if they wish to get new admissions for their children. This is as per the intructions of the MoE," he said.

The MoE has sought all Indian schools to make valid Omani resident card a prerequisite for admission.

"All the schools have issued circular based on the intimation from MoE and we are following the mandate," representative of another school said.

Earlier, an expat child below 15 needn't have to have a resident card but a resident number would suffice. It was mandatory for all those above 15 to have their resident card. But with this new rule, children around 4 years too shall get their resident card issued by the ROP.

Oman is planning to get children below 12 years of age to give vaccination and having a resident card will be made mandatory for the kids if they wish to get their jab, it is learnt.