MUSCAT: More than 750,000 students are studying in various schools in Oman in the current academic year. In the process, girls have overtaken boys, according to Dr. Madeeha Bint Ahmed Al Shaibaniyah, Minister of Education.

The minister said 50 per cent of the students studying in Sultanate’s schools are girls. “We currently have 759,307 students studying in various schools in Oman in 2019/2020 and around 50% of them are girls,” she said while addressing delegates from the MENA region who are discussing empowerment of women through coding capabilities.

This is the first MENA Women’s Congress on this topic, which concluded at Kempinski Hotel, Muscat, on Wednesday.

According to Dr Madeeha, the notion of gender equality and inclusion ensures the empowerment and the right of education for all citizens including women, children and people with disabilities and special needs. “The National Strategy for Education emphasises technology and innovation in line with Oman Vision 2040. In fact, the Ministry of Education realises the importance of responsiveness to the changes taking place in today’s world and continues to promote empowerment of both male and female students to help attain the goals the government aspires to achieve,” she added.

Organised by the Public Establishment for Industrial Estates – Madayn, represented by the National Business Centre(NBC), in cooperation with the US-based CTEK Foundation and a strategic sponsorship by Petroleum Development Oman (PDO), the MENA Women’s Congress in Oman is a CTEK initiative that aims at supporting women in the region by shaping programmes that give women opportunities to learn coding to start their own businesses.