The Board of Directors, Indian Schools in Oman, maps out a dynamic path that reaffirms the importance of learning and teaching in the context of the 21^st century skills and dispositions by establishing a virtual Centre for Excellence named ‘Samriddhi Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching’ for the Teachers and Students of Indian Schools across the Sultanate.
 
The logo, name and the tagline of the Centre was unveiled by Dr. Joseph Emmanuel, Director – Academics, CBSE and the website was launched by Dr. Biswajit Saha, Director – Training and Skill Education, CBSE on Saturday, 5^th June 2021.
 
In his address Dr. Joseph Emmanuel lauded the yeoman service of the Board in exploring all opportunities to get the teachers connected to the students despite the pandemic restrictions. “Teachers play multiple roles to cater to the educational, social, psychological and emotional needs of the students. The initiative of the Board in establishing the Centre for Excellence will help in reaching out to the students by addressing their multifarious needs,” Dr. Joseph said.
 
By exalting the initiatives of the Board among the best educational practices in the world, Dr. Biswajit Saha, Director – Training and Skill Education, CBSE commented that Indian Schools in Oman were equipped with the technology and expertise for online education of students and managed to continue curriculum transaction and assessments despite the closure of schools. “Centre for Excellence is a marvelous initiative of the Board for honing the pedagogical resources and CBSE is committed to help every educational endeavor of Indian Schools in Oman,” Dr. Saha said.
 
The Samriddhi Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching promotes a vibrant educational culture for both the teachers and students. It will provide quality education based on contemporary needs and will empower students to become lifelong learners. It will serve as a common repository for teachers to develop their professional and digital literacy skills with numerous transformational academic programmes. The Centre can be accessed at https://samriddhi.center/
 
In his introductory address Dr. Sivakumar Manickam, Chairman, Board of Directors, Indian Schools said the Samriddhi Centre for Excellence is aimed to “place Indian Schools from great to world class with the best teaching and learning practices and it will serve as a central resource to provide professional assistance, to encourage mutual support and to facilitate collaborative learning.”
 
The Board of Directors, in its mission to provide quality education for the students, is committed to ensure that educators engage in continuous professional learning and apply that learning to increase student achievement. The Samriddhi Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching will help the teachers to figure out new ways to engage students for better learning outcomes.
 
The ceremonious function was moderated by Mr. Vinoba M.P., Education Advisor and was attended by the Members on the Board, Presidents and Members on the Management Committees, Principals, Vice Principals and Assistant Vice Principals of all Indian Schools across the Sultanate.
 
Mr. Sirajudeen Nhelat, Academic Chair of the Board welcomed the dignitaries and the Vice Chairman Mr. Syed Salman explicated the meaning of ‘Samriddhi’ as a person’s holistic prosperity and proposed the vote of thanks.
 

The 13th edition of the prestigious Ambassador’s Polemic Challenge was virtually organized by Indian School Bousher under the aegis of the Board of Directors, Indian Schools in Oman, on 26th May 2021. Thirty-four contestants from 17 Indian Schools across the Sultanate debated on the topic ‘Technology has a positive impact on the life of students’.
In his introductory message, Dr. Sivakumar Manickam, Chairman, Board of Directors, Indian schools in Oman accentuated on the oratory skills that empower people in their professional life. “Participation in debates sharpens one’s skills in persuasion, organization of thoughts, and public speaking,” he said.

His Excellency Munu Mahawar, Ambassador of India to the Sultanate of Oman inaugurated the debate competition and declared the motion to the virtual gathering.

Mr. Ajayan Poyyara, President of the Indian School Bousher Management Committee welcomed the dignitaries and the panel of judges consisting of Prof. Meenu Jose(Asst. Professor, Department of English, Mar Ivanios College, Thiruvananathapuram), Prof. Benston John (Associate Professor, Department of Economics, St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University) and Dr. Binu James Mathew (Professor of English, CBFS, Muscat).

Mr. Rakesh Singh Tomar, Principal of Indian School Bousher, proposed the vote of thanks and Mrs. Sophia Baby Paul moderated the Polemic Challenge.

Kshama Sushilkumar Mumbai of Indian School Al Ghubrabagged the Best Speaker Award. Rebecca Ann Jacob of Indian School Darsait and Anant Agrawal of Indian School Muscat secured the second and the third positions respectively. In addition to the individual awards, merit certificates in three different grades were given to all the contestants who secured a position above the mean score.

The entire event that was interspersed with spectacular cultural programme performed by the students of Indian School Bousher, gave a visual treat to the viewers.

Indian School Nizwa, under the aegis of The Board of Directors, Indian Schools Oman, hosted ‘GLINTS – Going Beyond’ on the topic’ Come Fall in Love with Science and Math -Incorporating Experiential Learning in Classrooms’ on 24th May for the teachers of Indian Schools in Oman.Professor Manish Jain, IIT Gandhi Nagar was the resource person of the event.

Prof. Manish, one of the cognoscenti of IIT, enlightened the teachers to implement different pedagogical approaches, with his innovative classroom teaching techniques, to keep the students engrossed throughout, during the virtual classes. Professor’s demonstration of the toy based learning models; The Triangular Wave Car, Charka Generator, Pakki ball light with twelve pentagons and twenty hexagons joined by rubber bands, Vertical Pen Stand where the pen stands in the air magically, captivated the minds of the teachers. The program served beneficial to majority of the teaching faculty of Indian Schools in Oman.

Dr. Shivkumar Manickam, Chairman, BoD, Noushad Kakkeri, President, SMC-IS Nizwa, BoD Officials, Principals of Various Indian Schools, Oman, attended the webinar.