Muscat – His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tarik issued Royal Decree No 61/2024 on the vocational training sector on Thursday.

– Article 1 transfers to the Ministry of Labour (MoL) all the specialisations related to vocational training from the Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation (MoHERI), as follows:

1. Providing technical and vocational training and linking it to the needs of the labour market.

2. Developing training curricula in accordance with approved professional criteria and levels, in addition to granting qualifications and encouraging on-the-job training.

– Article 2 states that ‘allocations, origins, rights, obligations and assets of the vocational training sector in MoHERI’ will be transferred to MoL.

– Article 3 stipulates that ‘employees of the vocational training sector in MoHERI’ will be transferred to MoL, along with their financial grades.

– Article 4 states that ‘Annex No 2 attached to Royal Decree No 89/2020 on establishing the MoL, defining its specialisations and endorsing its organisational structure’ will be replaced with the annex attached to this decree.

– Article 5 cancels Clause No 14 of Annex No 1 attached to the aforementioned Royal Decree No 89/2020. It also stipulates that the ‘vocational training sector’ will be cancelled from Annex No 2 attached to Royal Decree No 98/2020 on amending the name of the Ministry of Higher Education as Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation, defining its specialisations and endorsing its organisational structure. It also cancels all that contradicts this decree or contravenes its provisions.

– Article 6 states that this decree will be published in the Official Gazette and enforced from its date of issue.