Following through on cooperation with the General Directorate of Education, SOHAR Port and Freezone is launching its new Tafawwoq programme this week. The new programme will initially target school students who performed particularly well in the 2016 Summer Educational Programme.
Suwaid Al Shamaisi, Executive Manager Corporate Affairs at SOHAR explains: “In line with the Port’s CSR commitments to ensure the development of a sustainable education and help future career prospects, we recently decided to launch our new Tafawwoq Programme. The first phase of the programme will reward those students who performed outstandingly well during our 2016 Summer Educational Programme at the International Maritime College Oman.”
The new programme is designed to provide selected, high-performing school students with an advanced English course to help broaden their horizons and increase their knowledge base. In addition, students will be learning a number of other basic skills to help them to be effective contributors to the community in the future. This will include encouraging the spirit of teamwork, enhancing their leadership skills and learning the fundamentals of public speaking.
The programme launches this week and will continue during the whole second semester of the 2016/2017 academic year. Twenty boys and girls from grades 5-10 were selected for the programme. Over a two-week period, at the Green Oasis Hotel-Sohar, students will be taught English language skills in the morning and public speaking, leadership fundamentals, and various self-development programs in the afternoon. Following these initial courses, there will be bi-weekly visits to the students back in their own schools to follow-up on progress and review their performance. A final assessment of the programme will be made together with the supervisors of each of the schools.
Mark Geilenkirchen, SOHAR CEO, summed up the initiative when he said: “As a Dutch national who has worked all over the world, I know first-hand the importance of English language skills as a facilitator for business growth and a primary driver for enhanced trade and prosperity. At SOHAR Port and Freezone we will continue to promote sustainable education through a range of programmes, working closely with all stakeholders including the Ministry of Education, the Walis, local schoolteachers and governors, school students and their parents.