Contents:
1- The Goal
2- The Plan
3- The Means
4- Training as an Omanization Tool
5- The Training Plan
6- The Preliminary Training
7- The Omanization Reality
First: The Goal:-
Developing human capacity in all areas of each country is a legitimate goal and an inevitable duty, and this will lead to the integration of local skills and competencies in whatever public interest needs. Therefore, Omanization is a noble goal; it does not hurt the feelings of a foreign country or of any resident of another nationality.
It is the duty of the human family to share their skills, so each country can complete its own human capacity building that can serve its local needs. And it is the resident’s duty to convey his/her experience with pride and confidence to the citizens, with the development of the local competences as his/her goal.
Second: The Plan:-
It goes without saying that the achievement of the goals depends on the safety and seriousness in the application of the plan. Therefore, the supreme political leadership should develop a (Master Plan) that relevant authorities depend on while preparing detailed plans according to their specializations.
If I may suggest some of the features of any plan, I say it should include:
1. Objectives.
2. Means.
3. Priorities.
4. Schedule.
5. Resources.
6. Responsibilities of implementation.
7. Performance reporting and control.
Third: The Means:-
As long as we have concluded, according to my endeavor, to the safety of the goal (Omanization) and to the necessity to develop a plan to reach it, and that what comes with the plan is identifying the tools and means to implement it. So let's then deal with that particular issue (Omanization), which is, anyway, the subject of my speech.
The means, of course, vary according to the following considerations:
1. Objectives.
2. The specifications of the current situation.
3. Availability of required resources.
4. The obtainable alternatives.
As long as we are talking, specifically, about Omanization, allow me to talk about the available means to achieve this goal, which can be put within the two following frameworks:
a- Education
b- Training
And here I mean by the education, science in its general interpretation and in its different areas and stages. The achievement of objectives requires the development of an educational plan in the different areas of Omanization to prepare the citizen in terms of basic knowledge.
Science is the beginning, and the first holy verse directed us to this fact and also to the importance of science:
In The Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
“Read in the name of your Lord Who created, He created man from a clot, Read and your Lord is Most Honorable, Who taught (to write) with the pen, Taught man what he knew not” AL-ALAQ (THE CLOT, READ),chapter 96
So if we assumed the existence of a comprehensive and correct educational plan seeks to achieve Omanization, then we should support it with a corresponding training plan.
Forth: Training as an Omanization Tool:-
The wisdom of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos that inspired the beginnings of the development since the commencement of his throne, opened the door of training in the Sultanate, because it is the gateway not only to Omanization but also to the development.
According to His Majesty’s instructions, we all, every one in his/her field, have to include the plans and programs to train our local cadres in the designed policy.
Fifth: The Training Plan:-
First of all, we have to differentiate between two main types of training:
1) Basic training.
2) Ongoing training.
Basic training means, everything that is needed in qualifying the Omani citizen to perform his/her specific tasks, and that’s after accomplishing his basic education. Therefore the sequence is as follows:
a. Education
b. Preliminarytraining
c. Ongoing training
Training without scientific and theoretical knowledge is not sufficient; the reason is that the main purpose of the training is implementing this knowledge.
Since, the total amount of the human knowledge is doubling every two years; the process of evolution does not cease. Therefore ongoing training is necessary which is different from the basic one, in the sense that it aims to keep up with the developments in a certain skill.
Sixth: The Preliminary Training:-
The preliminary training programs include these following elements in the area of the professional work:
1. Scientific skill.
2. Applied skill.
3. Communication skill.
4. Creativity skill.
Scientific skill: Is the ability to imagine the information and the basic theoretical knowledge in its scientific content. So what the citizen has learned can be applicable in conformity with the work’s daily determinants, then his/her knowledge can be applied and what he/she has learned can be practiced.
Applied skill: Is what the citizen acquires through the actual practice and the experience of what’s right and what’s wrong, until he/she reaches the perfect application pattern to fully use the available tools.
And what I mean by Communication skill: Is the ability to provide meaningful reports about the citizen’s duties to those who are responsible for the decision-making process, so they can take the right decisions. The improvement of the performance and the raise of the productivity and the ability of communication, also include dealing with the relative parties inside and outside the institution. Therefore, the harmony of work within the institution and good relations with others are achieved.
The creativity skill: Is to train the citizens on research, for the purpose of development and creativity. There is not a better person than the skilled one to be creative in his/her skill. As a result, we must train our children not only how to perform well, but also how to be inventive, and how to propose what can raise the standard of the performance.
Seventh: The Omanization Reality in the Sultanate:-
The available data shows that the rates of Omanization in the year 1991 have hit (64.1%) in the public sector and (32.1%) in the private one, according to the data of the General Directorate for National Statistics in the Development Board. The fourth five-year plan also estimated that the rate of Omanization in the Sultanate would be (39%) in 1990, and it also predicted that it will rise till (45%) in 1995.
The sectors of agriculture, fisheries, transport and communications are at the top of the economic activities list, where the Omanization is being applied. The rates arrived till (81.5%) of the agriculture sector, (79.5%) of the fisheries, (77.2%) of the transport and communication in 1990, while these rates descend to (4.8%) in the social and personal service, (5.8 %) in the construction sector and to (6.5 %) in trade sector.
In terms of occupations, Omanization’s rates go down to (14.2%) in the skilled crafts, (17.3%) in the semi-skilled crafts, and to (18.3%) in the scientific and applied specializations.
It is natural that the planners and the policy and strategies makers in the Sultanate notice the issue of ‘the Omanization’ and also the development of the human resources. Many efforts have been made in this area during the past period, which are: The fourth five-year plan that included an amount of (40) million Omani Riyals for the implementation of the Omanization program, in addition to an amount of (10) million Omani Riyals which has been appropriated for the Omanization program implementation in the civil service units.
Work is underway in the preparation of the five-year plan of training, in addition to the project of the Omani-American Joint Commission for academic qualification (scholarships) and training to obtain the three university degrees. Some of the policies that the fourth plan includes are the following:
- To compensate the private sector of all expenses that it affords in the process of training the Omanis to replace the foreign labor, or training them in order to occupy new jobs that require special level of training and skill.
- To spread and empower the grants and the government loans and other supporting methods in the private sector institutions and companies according to Omanization’s rates that they achieve.
- To apply the social security system on the Omani workers in the private sector.
- To encourage and support the private sector to establish the Higher Institute of Management, in order
to train the workers of the private sector on the professions and skills which this sector needs.
According to that, many decisions and actions during 1991 and 1992 had been taken by ministries, bureau, committees and specialized councils that are concerned with the labor market, education and training, for the purpose of training and raising the Omanization’s rates. Some are: the Development Board, the Supreme Committee for Vocational Training and Employment, the Vocational Training Bureau and the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs. The Career Progression System and the amounts the government pays for the training were unique in the world.
There are also plans and programs under implementation till the end of this century, to omanize teachers of the elementary schools. The statements of, His Excellency, The Minister of Education, in the newspapers during the last few days, included the establishment of programs to develop teachers’ colleges in order to provide a qualified teaching staff for the two: elementary and secondary schools (high schools) so that they are omanized. There is also another Omanization plan in The Ministry of Civil Service to omanize jobs for arrivals in the civil service system.
The decision of the Supreme Committee for Vocational Training and Employment n. (92/49), that was taken in the seventh meeting in the eleventh of November 1992, included the development of the current vocational training system, which changed the quality of training and vocational qualification .
Eighth: Summary:-
I can, in this generous country which is lucky with its leadership, frankly close my speech with some of the basic principles:
1. Omanization can’t be achieved only by making decisions; it’s achieved by working on them.
2. The Omanization of jobs without adequate training and preparation will not be successful, but will rather lead to masked unemployment.
3. The achievement of any goal requires an effort that is equal to the importance of it. Therefore, we must be ready to do a lot in order to achieve the fundamental local objectives and foremost Omanization.
4. Omanization does not mean the separation and isolation from the global ever-changing experience; we must continue to interact and benefit from it in the process of a mutual development.
5. Knowledge is an ongoing process; it doesn’t end with the finishing of a certain study or course, it is continuous with life and so is the need for an ongoing training.
6. The process of Omanization must be applied according to a plan and in successive stages, so the national activity won’t be affected by the disruption that is resulted from the unfinished adjustments.
7. Every foreign resident, expert or visitor must realize that the ascent of the local efficiency will lead to greater productivity, therefore, to the expansion of the Omani Economy. This does not, necessarily, mean rejecting all that is not Omani, it must be absorbed and added to the local efficiency. The development process is a dynamic continues one .
8. There is no activity, without exception, that can’t be omanized .The plan must include all of the areas of the production in the country.
9. The nobility of this country and its fabulous mountains should be a source of confidence to climb the mountains of Omanization.
In conclusion, I, sincerely, say that I am proud that our Arab pilot institution had believed in this principle and applied it in all of its offices, including our won office in Muscat .We were the first accounting office which embraced an Omani citizen, our brother, Jacob Al-Faqeer. With whom we adopted the same policy I talked about concerning training and preparing, so that the local Omani partner can be efficient and not just a local partner.