On Sunday, a total of 876,117 students returned to classrooms across the Sultanate of Oman, marking the official commencement of the 2026/2027 academic year. According to official figures, the student body includes 440,899 males and 435,218 females spread across 1,298 schools. Additionally, 3,903 students are registered in specialized education programs in both public and private sectors.
The educational network for this academic year comprises 341 schools dedicated to Grades 1-4, 128 for Grades 5-8, and 165 for Grades 9-12. The infrastructure is further supported by 664 continuing schools and 115 evening schools. A workforce of 68,205 teaching, administrative, and technical staff is managing these institutions. This includes 21,011 male and 47,194 female teachers, alongside 12,200 administrative and technical personnel, of which 4,832 are men and 7,368 are women.
Dr. Madeeha bint Ahmed Al Shaibani, the Minister of Education, offered her congratulations to students, educators, and staff. She emphasized the recent institutional shift that consolidated the former Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation into a single Ministry of Education. This structural change aligns with a national vision to build an integrated educational system connecting paths from pre-school through higher education.
Dr. Al Shaibani noted that the unified framework aims to harmonize educational outcomes with the needs of the labor market and optimize system efficiency. She reiterated that enhancing the quality of both school and higher education remains a chief priority. To support sector governance, the ministry will utilize external evaluations of public and private schools, as well as institutional and program accreditations run by the Oman Authority for Quality Assurance of Education, to boost performance and improve the standard of graduates.
