tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2368053937631641478.post8959497098399784779..comments2024-03-19T04:51:17.560+04:00Comments on [MM] Muscat Mutterings: Education Ministry studying impact of short school termSythehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09864800112417099664noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2368053937631641478.post-3755904291453833972009-09-28T15:46:56.258+04:002009-09-28T15:46:56.258+04:00Karim -
Thanks for the comment. There might be t...Karim - <br /><br />Thanks for the comment. There might be thousands of schools on the Omani system in Oman, but they will all be on the same Syllabus and all have the same term times and hours. <br /><br />It is not the teacher's problem if the MOE decide to postpone opening - they are on Contracts which will no doubt protect the employee's. I'm sure the bus drivers are a bit irritated, but they are probably getting paid as well.<br /><br />You give me the impression that you think H1N1 is unlike the common flu. It's exactly like the flu, because it is a flu. I had the flu a 6 weeks or so ago, and it took about 3 weeks to clear completely, but I was off work for 3 days. This kid-glove treatment of the schools and closing them is pure lunacy. There is not a shred of common sense behind the move, in fact I will go as far to say that whoever it was that ordered the schools to remain closed should be releived of their position. But of course they wont be.Sythehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09864800112417099664noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2368053937631641478.post-77579935804257364932009-09-28T13:10:25.388+04:002009-09-28T13:10:25.388+04:00Karim - yes, if we lost production from Yibal or S...Karim - yes, if we lost production from Yibal or Saih Rawl, Muscat would be affected. But that's not the same as "if we have an outbreak" in one of those fields. It takes two guys at any one time to operate a gas plant and a few others to be available for emergency maintenance. Some PDO staff have already contracted H1N1 and there is plenty of contingency to cover for them. So it would take a lot more than "an outbreak" to shut down a critical gas field, and in any case there is greater than a 99% chance that the guys originally affected would be back at work in less than a week.<br /><br />Let's stop this ridiculous overreacting.<br /><br />AdnanAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2368053937631641478.post-34492133681749865012009-09-28T11:31:09.797+04:002009-09-28T11:31:09.797+04:00Your hypothesis will be true if we talk about a si...Your hypothesis will be true if we talk about a single school, but with thousands of schools spread across Oman, with integration with university entry requirements all over the world, and contracts for things like catering, cleaning, pest control, new books, MOE portal, teachers leaves, salary payments, and a whole raft of issues that need to be sorted out, makes it a very complex undertaking. Its not a matter of increasing the next term time by a month, or reducing the mid term break, you need to think of all the issues related to this time slip.<br /><br />Further more, H1N1 is a very contagious disease, it has the potential of shutting down entire schools. Gas fields operators in Oman have been identified as critical, and will be among the very first people to receive the H1N1 immunisation jab because if you have an outbreak in a gas field like Yibal, the whole of Muscat will be without electricity and water within 5 days.Karimhttp://www.blablaba.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2368053937631641478.post-1642207217766685122009-09-28T07:27:27.297+04:002009-09-28T07:27:27.297+04:00MM
And it's worth repeating that the risk of ...MM<br /><br />And it's worth repeating that the risk of complications and death from this form of flu remains extrememy low (at MOST it's 1%)*, and it is certainly no more dangerous overall than 'normal' flu. The panic and nonsense that's spouted about it in Oman seems out of all proportion to the real threat. Other countries I've visited recently seem much more calm and mature in comparison.<br /><br />Yes people have died, but that is normal with any flu and there would certainly have been just as many cases of the types that That'sWhatISaid mentions above in any seasonal fu outbreak. It's just that every cases gets (over)publicised now.<br /><br />* It's worth looking at the WHO coverage of the pandemic: http://www.who.int/csr/disease/swineflu/en/index.html<br /><br />In particular this comment from their most recent update is telling: "As of 20 September 2009, there have been more than 300,000 laboratory confirmed cases of pandemic influenza H1N1, 3917 deaths, in 191 countries and territories reported to WHO. As more and more countries have stopped counting individual cases, particularly of milder illness, the case count is significantly lower than the actually number of cases that have occurred". <br /><br />The point here is that reporting of cases has virtually stopped in a lot of areas, whill flu-related deaths are still reported - so the death rate of 1% is artificially inflated; in reality it's probably far far lower.<br /><br />The real mystery is why the public in Oman in particular is in such a nonsensical panic about this.<br /><br />WMomanobserverhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12152924678304703393noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2368053937631641478.post-45959272969316334222009-09-27T19:28:53.578+04:002009-09-27T19:28:53.578+04:00It must be horrible for the families to loose thei...It must be horrible for the families to loose their loved ones.<br /><br />14-year-old girl who was suffering from cerebral paralysis, bones and spine deformities<br />26-year-old woman who was suffering from kidney failure.<br />89-year-old woman who was suffering from high blood pressure, cardiac problems and diabetes<br />And all threes cause of death was swine flu, not their various major heath problemsThats What I Saidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12799337685584108553noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2368053937631641478.post-79390065849337845782009-09-27T16:24:07.366+04:002009-09-27T16:24:07.366+04:00My point still stands though.... You don't nee...My point still stands though.... You don't need to study it... it's a simple 2 hour discussion. No?<br /><br />You line up what's been missed, match that to various alternatives, and the difference is what is cut out of the curriculum. It doesn't require study. It's remarkable that the schools have not started up yet. The only people who are going to suffer at the end of the day are the kids who are not getting taught, will most certainly not work through their entire vacations, and will almost certainly not work more than 2 hours extra a day to catch up. The teachers are going to gloss over stuff so quickly that it wont be taught properly either. All because of a fear of a flu thats killed 21 people in Oman. More people die on the roads here every month, so under the same school of though, we should just boycott school all together because it's too dangerous to actually drive to school.<br /><br />It's a dumb move, no matter what way you look at it.Sythehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09864800112417099664noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2368053937631641478.post-60325348558274011292009-09-27T11:31:53.709+04:002009-09-27T11:31:53.709+04:00When they say they are going to study the impact o...When they say they are going to study the impact of shortened semsemter they are doing an analysis of alternatives for making the students catch up, example, make the remaining days of other second semester longers to accommodate for more lessons, or shorten/cancel the summer holidays for 2010. You obviously can't decide how much time you need to catch up if you don't know how much you are missing.Blue_Chihttp://www.blue-chi.com/noreply@blogger.com