Blue Chi’s

A UAE newspaper called the National ran a story written by Saleh al Shaibany about media censorship in Oman (link), which to my surprise quotes me a couple of times in a manner that suggests that I was interviewed for this article. I did not know about my mention in this article, I clicked the link on Twitter and was surprised to see my name there.

I was not interviewed for this article and my quotes were taken out of context from a number of posts I have written in the past. Saleh al Shaibany never got in touch with me prior to the publication of this article. I do not agree with or support the opinions mentioned in this article.

In the post from which my second quote was taken I argued that that the government in Oman, unlike neighboring countries, does not in fact censor the internet on political grounds, as it relies instead of legal methods, such as the criminal law or breach of confidence, to prosecute the authors. Controversial websites that criticize government officials and those that leak confidential documents are still open the public. My post made it clear that the problem of censorship in Oman is due to random acts of Omantel and the inefficiency of the company. My other blog was blocked by mistake and not because of its content.

I am very upset about this whole experience. Any reasonable reader would think that I was interviewed for this article and that I am in support of the message behind it. I am very disappointed to see my quotes used out of context without any reference to where they were taken from.

I emailed the editor of The National and the head of the Foreign Desk at the paper. I’m still waiting for the response.

Just finished reading The Secret a couple of weeks ago. For the very few of you who have not heard of this book before, it is a book that got published in 2006 after a DVD on the same topic was released. The Secret is a spiritual/self-help book on how to use the law of attraction to achieve everything you want in life. The book got super famous after appearing on Oprah.

Though the book is a massive international hit, many people criticise it, mufti’s in some Arab Muslim countries held that the teachings of the book are haram for some reason, which I thought is very weird, because the majority of the principles of The Secret are compatible with most religions, for example, praying to have what you desire, being grateful everyday for what you have, thinking positively, giving those who need some of what you have, and that each person is responsible for his own fate.

I thought that the Secret is a fun and energizing book to read, it is not meant to be taken as a scientific book of authority, but a little book to make you feel good about the future and that you can do anything you want in life if you put your mind to it.

(Photo Credits: CarbonNYC)

Controversial blogger and wannabe political activist Ammar Al Maamari wrote a nice post yesterday on the various problems with Applied Science Colleges in Oman.

There are six Applied Science Colleges (ASCs) in Oman in various cities outside the capital, these colleges were previously Educational Colleges that trained school teachers until the country oversaturated with school teachers with no schools to teach in. These colleges now teach design, communications, information technology, and business administration.

Ammar suggests that these colleges face a number of old problems that existed for Educational Colleges and some new ones that appeared with the quick conversion of these colleges. Such problems include:

• The inadequacy of the teaching staff due to their poor rushed selection process that was pressured by the need to convert these colleges ASAP. The majority of teachers teach subjects that they do not specialize in. Some Omani staff also have no training whatsoever and do not serve any purpose.
• There is a shortage in English language teachers and the ones that currently teach have no experience in teaching. Students have difficulty in understanding them, especially if the teachers are Indian. The English teachers were brought through a training agency that apparently got individuals who have no qualifications or any history in teaching English.
• The English taught in the foundation year is general English and not one specific to any of the majors taught in later years. The majority of the subject teaching materials were brought from New Zealand are their level of English is way higher than that of the students.
• Due to the shortage of teaching staff, some colleges are unable to teach the courses which the students entered with the intention to study. To solve this problem colleges require the students to move to another college in another city to study the course they desire. For example, a student in Salalah would be told, after three years in the course, that he has to move to Ibri in order to acquire a degree in communications. Of course, students were not informed about this when they started college and the majority of them are unable to move to another city, so they end up changing their course into something that their current college offers even if they never intended to study that subject.

Ammar offers a number of suggestions for this problem, the first is to merge all these colleges into a single institution that is located in a single place. This way duplicate costs would be saved and only the best of the work force could be selected to run the university. An alternative solution suggested by Ammar is to abolish ALL these colleges and use the RO 15 million used to run them each year to teach the students at existing private universities in the Sultanate instead. Ammar is aware that this is an exterme measure that could affect the job opportunities taken by the locals and would also require the expansion of private universities to be able to accept the thousands of students currently taught in ASCs.

I personally never really had any idea about what happens in these colleges. If you can read Arabic make sure you read the full post by Ammar here.