Hundreds of new schools expected in Oman in next 4 years

Muscat: Number of schools in Oman is expected to rise by 2020, according to a report.
Alpen Capital, the company that offers a full range of investment banking advisory services in the areas on M&A, Debt, Equity and Capital markets, has formulated the GCC Education Industry report which covers the educational scenario in the GCC.
It estimates that school count will rise to more than 2,000 within the next four years, up from 1,500 schools reportedly in Oman during the year 2015.
The study also points out a huge gap in the educational sector in the GCC which is said to require a total of about 51,000 schools in the GCC region, 7,000 more than the current number.
This gap is to be addressed by setting up more than 50,000 schools, of these nearly 44,000 in Saudi Arabia. The larger chunk remains with the public educational sector under which around 41,000 schools are expected to be set up followed by the private education sector which will have more than 9,000 such schools.
Figures from last year’s GCC Education Construction report have shown that education sector is a favourite investment among both private and public sector stakeholders who seek to capitalise on the growing education market with ventures in more than 500 projects collectively coming to $50b throughout the region.
The interest in these sectors is further emphasised by the massive budget allocation to the education sector by countries in the GCC having figures higher than most developed nations like the UK and Germany.
“With the international and private school markets continuing to grow, and as competition increases, it is increasingly critical that schools and investors planning to open new operations in education develop strategies for success,” said Rhona Greenhill, co-founder of IPSEF.
Budget schools in Oman have a huge demand and many such schools are operating two shifts every day, clearly implying an under supply in the high school sector. According to experts, existing operators and schools recognise that the markets have been very competitive and previous enrolment ramp up rates are unlikely to work. There are also reports of an oversupply of American and British systems. However, a gap is still noticed in the International Baccalaureate (IB) market.