Portal Pages

Speech of His Excellency Majid bin Said Al Bahri about E-Participation

Ministry of Education worked on achieving the highest levels of technical development in its services provided to public, and employing its successes achieved by integrated systems of information technology and educational portal throughout past years in order to perform these services easily, quickly and safely from any place and at any time aiming to satisfy society members generally,  and the educational community specially with all groups including students, teachers and parents, in addition to all employees and administrators to whom the portal services extend. That will be for improving efficiency of performance and increasing transparency and community participation by everyone.

Community E-Participation in Ministry of Education is considered as a technical priority that we seek to follow as approach and sustainable work method and to develop it for improving services provided to public as well as considering their suggestions and constructive participation and converting them into tangible results serving interest of institution and society.

That comes from Ministry’s conviction that public participation and involving citizens are considered as an essential element in formulating general policies related to providing administrative and educational services. The essence of that lies in providing effective channels of e-Participation to individuals and encouraging them, which surely contributes to achieving the highest levels of quality in making right decisions and approving optimal policies which include more public participation by public.

The Ministry announces today its policies of e-Participation and makes them available for its broad audience with all clarity and transparency in order to put its great trust in their ability to provide conscious and constructive contribution for process of formulating educational policies through its official electronic channels for participation. It also promises to listen carefully to their voices and work on enabling them to provide purposeful and enriching participation more widely and deeply at all available levels of e-Participation which achieves the highest levels of effectiveness and establishes an image of Oman as a leading country in field of electronic transformation. That makes all society members and institutions benefit from open and useful communication with the Ministry that aims at providing closer, more transparent and effective services to public.

We appreciate all efforts which were provided and are still provided with all sincerity, dedication and credibility in order to convert results of e-Participation policies placed by Ministry of Education into a tangible reality and practical application to emphasize one of the most important solid principles upon which the modern revival of the Sultanate was built, and which are followed with confident and ambitious steps by its renewable revival in listening to the citizen’s voice and participation in all issues concerning him, especially educational issues on basis of consultation and meaningful dialogue in order to serve the supreme interest of the country.

E-Participation:

The effective participation of society is considered as one of the most important principles upon which the modern revival of the Sultanate was built. It is based on principles of consultation, dialogue and citizen’s participation in issues touching their interests of first class whether social, economic or educational. E-Participation – in its modern meaning in our current era – is a series of digital communication activities which enable the governmental institutions to communicate with society (Community Participation Guide).

E-Participation in Ministry of Education is considered as a technical priority that the Ministry seeks to follow as approach and sustainable work method and to develop it for improving services provided to the society generally and the education community specially as well as considering their suggestions and constructive participations and converting them into tangible results serving interest of institution and society.

General Objectives of E-Participation:

1.       Building a link between the governmental unit and the Ministry’s audience.

2.       Considering public visions and suggestions regarding the services provided to them.

3.       Obtaining feedback from Ministry’s audience about its digital services.

4.       Presenting the constructive suggestions and useful opinions to the competent authorities in the Ministry.

5.       Enabling personnel in Ministry to improve and develop services.

6.       Achieving joint cooperation and positive communication with beneficiary.

7.       Learning about public opinions and points of view regarding trends and updates of Ministry.

8.       Contributing to making some decisions which serve interest of society and Ministry.

Rules and Policies of E-Participation in the Ministry:

Ministry of Education derives its policies related to e-Participation from the related rules and policies of the Sultanate stipulated by Ministry of Transportation, Communication and Information Technology in e-Participation Policy on Omanuna Portal.

Direct Link: E-Participation/ Omanuna Portal.

Conditions and Policies of Ministry of Education:

1.       Intensifying communication efforts, cooperation and constructive strategic service work initially with governmental institutions that their activities and programs are compatible with the Ministry in targeting different segments of educational community.

2.       Evaluating quality of publications, prints and digital releases which are sent by other institutions before uploading them on the Oman Education Portal website interface.

3.       All these coming from inside or outside the Ministry shall be presented on behalf of the sending party.

4.       The e-Participation link in the educational portal is considered as an official link which can be employed through official channels of Ministry of Education.

5.       Participation of educational community members in the most important new issues related to the educational objectives and visions of institution in order to provide their opinions and suggestions effectively and purposefully.

6.       All society members have the right to participate in channels of e-Participation and it is not necessary to be one of the elements of the educational community.

7.       Ensuring that the topics covered by the institution shall meet interests of society members and discuss issues related to them in order to get outputs with more quality.

8.       The Ministry shall raise awareness of society members and encourage e-Participation by using approved official tools.

9.       The Ministry shall provide all required technical facilities which enable and ensure participation and interaction of individual with special needs and people with disabilities and make them benefit from its channels of e-Participation like normal people.

10.   All incoming contributions and topics shall be published on behalf of the party that prepared and submitted them to maintain their rights and confirm their responsibilities.

11.   The Ministry shall assist the educational community members in formulating trends and finding suitable alternatives for the topics which reflect their visions and educational desires.

12.   Avoiding presenting topics that raise the limit of public expectations and ambitions, or giving unreal promises which affect negatively their trust in Ministry.

13.   Applying e-Participation by opening official channels dedicated to it only such as social media networks, customized mail, questionnaires and programs of approved surveys in the interface of education portal.

Tools of Activating e-Participation in Ministry of Education:

·         Social media networks (edugovoman).

·         Electronic survey.

·         Questionnaire.

·         Voting through electronic emoticons.

·         Ministerial e-mail.

·         Educational network.

Vision and Mission:

Ministry of Education aims at applying e-Participation to build bilateral relationship with the beneficiary not only taking their opinions through e-Participation channels regarding decisions and policies suggested by Ministry. It extends also to include their actual participation with Ministry in their suggested perceptions as well as understanding their opinions and merge them in the discussions of Ministry officials and its decision-making processes. It is no doubt that empowering the beneficiary and giving him trust – by considering his suggestions and contents of his ideas – is considered as a real gain for the Ministry in order to develop electronic services of the institution and enhance its effectiveness.