Goan Community of Oman

We are all happy and excited that the Goans have made their presence felt in Oman under the forum of the GCO (Goan Community of Oman). 

We, in the Educational Sub-Committee, wish to extend our wholehearted commitment and efforts for the benefit of the community.   Our vision is to work on the personality development of our children and support, in a small way, the education they receive at their respective schools.  To this end, it is envisaged to enhance Public Speaking skills, which would include elocution, debates and dramatics.  Our children are all blessed with different talents and it will be our endeavour to unravel their latent talents through multi-faceted competitions / programmes.  The musical talents (singing and instrumental) will also be tapped.  We also wish to impart value education and will invite eminent speakers to address the children, so that they are moulded into good human beings.  Youth Leadership Programmes, IT programmes, etc. are other subjects on the anvil.  To achieve this vision, we need your unstinted cooperation.  We welcome your suggestions and participation.  I appeal to fellow Goans, who feel can help with the topics mentioned, to please send us an e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it   Please help us to make this a reality, and do bear in mind that without your contribution we cannot progress.  

The Educational Sub-committee first met in May 2008 and the second meeting was held on 17th September.  The sub-committee comprises of Catherine Dias (ad-hoc coordinator), Sandra De Lima, Mathilda Mascarenhas, Sherida D’Souza, Sandra Candes, Jocelle Fernandes, Revathi Torres, Maura Gomes and Wallance Varella. 

As the first of such activities, we have decided to hold an Elocution Competition for the GCO children. The finals will be held on 31 October 2008 at the Main Hall of Sts. Peter & Paul Catholic Church, Ruwi, mindful of the tests and exams conducted by the different Indian Schools.

The competition will be organized under 5 age groups to give a fair chance to all participants.  Once we receive the completed entry forms and know the numbers we are looking at, we will hold a preliminary round to shortlist the finalists. We have requested Distinguished Toastmaster Mr. MV Jose to address all the participants and brief them, with a demonstration, as to what is expected of them.  This would certainly help the children and motivate them to do well, while at the same time inculcate confidence in them and a sense of healthy competition.

We plan to have short cultural items (songs, dances, instrumental music) between each category competition to give the judges time to tally their mark-sheets, as well as to add to the gaiety of the evening and promote Goan culture.  A certificates will be given to each participant and prizes will be awarded to the first two or three winners in each category. 

We solicit the wholehearted cooperation of all our GCO parents to encourage their children to participate and benefit from this event and thereby foster their development.   We stress that the response that we receive will spur us on to plan more educational events for the personality development of our children.

Come, let us celebrate the “joy of life”, through each of the sub-committees. We as Goans are well known for this !!

Catherine Dias,
Ad-hoc Coordinator
GCO Education Sub-Committee

Please Note:

1. The Entry Form for the Children's Elocution Contest has been emailed out and can be found in this website in the Forthcoming Events section.
2. The Entry Forms may also be collected from Al Hamadi Meat & Fish Centre, located opposite Lulu Hypermarket at Darsait, between 8 a.m. to 1-30 p.m. and 4-30 p.m. to 9 p.m.
3. Completed forms may be submitted at Al Hamadi Centre or may be emailed to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it   
4. The last date of submission of the form is 15th October 2008. 
5. Depending on the number of entries received, preliminary rounds will be held, of which you will be informed.  The finals will be held on Friday, 31st October 2008 at the Main Hall of Sts. Peter & Paul Catholic Church, Ruwi.  The time will be notified later.

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Emailed out on 22nd October 2008:

Further to the entry form for the GCO Elocution Competition sent earlier, we wish to inform our GCO children who fall under Category V (i.e. 14 to 17 years age group) that they can still send in their entry form, latest by Sunday 26th October.
 
We have done this to encourage them to participate, in view of the forthcoming Diwali holidays which will give them time to prepare their speech.  Following are the topics on which they can speak:
Goa – My native place
Smoking – An evil vice
Water – The source of life
Environmental Pollution – Causes and Prevention
Youth – The future of tomorrow
Values make a man

Please encourage your children to participate and send in the entry form to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it at the earliest.