Ministry of Education's Projects and Services Forum commences

Muscat: The Projects and Services Forum commenced on Sunday under the slogan ‘Towards an Integrated and Advanced Education Environment.’

The forum is organised by the Ministry of Education, represented by the Directorate-General of Projects and Services, and under the patronage of Majid bin Said Al Bahri, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Education for Administrative and Financial Affairs.

The two-day forum was held in the presence of directors-general and their assistants, directors of departments and divisions of the Directorate-General of Projects and Services, and their counterparts in the educational directorates in the governorates and is taking place at the Maani Hotel Muscat.

The opening ceremony of the forum included the inauguration of the forum’s logo, after which Khamis Al-Hadidi, Director-General of the Directorate-General of Projects and Services, delivered the opening speech.

“This forum represents a special occasion to discuss ways to develop our work, by reviewing the achievements of the Directorate and our partners in the educational governorates, examining the development aspects in the projects and services sector, and exploring new horizons and innovative methods that will enhance the quality of our services,” he said.

He also reviewed the efforts of the Directorate and its counterparts in the educational governorates regarding preparation for the academic year.

He said that 33 school buildings were received from the beginning of the current academic year, and 20 schools were expanded while 350 schools were maintained and restored.The Directorate also started preparing and refurnishing 118 science laboratories in various educational governorates.

The supply and installation of 24,000 air conditioning devices were completed in the first phase, and more than 75 percent of the second phase was completed, in addition to completing the analysis of the tender for the third and fourth batches which number 44,000 air conditioning devices.

The Directorate is also working on providing all textbooks at the start of the academic year without any delay, signing framework contracts with printing presses for a period of four years to ensure their availability on time, in addition to improving and developing student and school furniture by targeting 324 schools to replace furniture.

He also stated that an agreement was signed to replace 5,000 school transportation vehicles between the Ministry, Karwa Company and the Oman Development Bank, and more than 10,000 beneficiaries were accommodated for all training programmes.

Majid bin Said Al Bahri, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Education for Administrative and Financial Affairs, opened the exhibition accompanying the Forum of the Directorate-General of Projects and Services.

The exhibition included 8 corners in areas that support the main vision of the Directorate’s work in the fields of construction and related to creating a supportive educational environment for emerging generations.

The included corners in the exhibition are the International Security Company for Technology corner specialised in safety security systems, the Mozaic company corner specialised in the vehicle tracking system, the C Genial production company corner for the virtual system and artificial intelligence, the Weber company corner specialised in thermal and water insulation, the Zoom company corner for water purification and filtration, and the Caparol International Paints Company corner specialised in paints for schools, the Midmac Company’s corner for making awnings and doors, and the Al-Zaidi Integrated Projects Company’s corner for manufacturing armour, which is one of the companies supporting the Ministry.

Dr. Faisal Al Busaidi, Director-General of the Directorate-General of Information Technology, presented the main paper for the forum entitled ‘Artificial Intelligence in Education.’

Then Engineer Basem Al Hadi from the Projects Department gave a presentation on the lessons learned for the project to design and establish 13 schools in various governorates of the Sultanate.

Youssef Al-Muqbali from the Department of Transport and Services presented a paper entitled ‘Developing services between reality and challenges,’ after which Abdullah Al-Shuaili from Mozaic Web Solutions Company gave a visual presentation entitled ‘Supplying and installing a surveillance system in the vehicle,’ which provides the advantage of monitoring the locations of vehicles and tracking their movement.

Dr. Bilal Younis also presented a paper entitled ‘The National Initiative for Drinking Water Technology in Schools,’ and Saif Al-Jalandani, Director-General of the Directorate-General of Education in Al Dakhiliyah Governorate, presented a paper entitled, ‘Leadership Skills in the Twenty-First Century,’ and Engineer Suleiman Al-Riyami gave a presentation of the initiative ‘Developing the drainage pipe system in public school toilets.’