LEARNING RESOURCE CENTRES IN SCHOOLS IN THE SULTANATE OF OMAN

In preparing the population of the Sultanate of Oman for the challenges that will face them in the 21st century, the government is laying special emphasis on education. Early in the 1990s, a team of educational experts from Canada studied the educational system in Oman, and proposed a wide‐ranging, expensive, and thorough reform. Work on this programme began in 1995 using the Canadian recommendations as the framework for the reform programme to be developed between 1996–2000. The programme lays great stress on improving and strengthening the teaching of mathematics and science; introduction of English language teaching in the first grade for children aged 6; and, most importantly, a shift in the method of teaching from teacher‐ centred to child‐centred learning.