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Independent schools should address a number of challenges, including discipline, involving students and parents in the education process, it was highlighted at an open forum yesterday.
The Prime Minister and Minister of Interior HE Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa al-Thani, who is also the chairman of the Supreme Education Council (SEC), led the forum with representatives of all the stakeholders of education process in the country including teachers, parents, mediapersons and SEC officials.
SEC vice-president and Executive Committee chairperson HE Sheikha Hind bint Hamad al-Thani, the Minister of Education and Higher Education HE Dr Mohamed Abdul Wahed Ali al-Hammadi and a number of dignitaries took part in the consultative meeting, which had the topic “Education: Reality, challenges and aspirations.”
HE Dr al-Hammadi, who is also the SEC Secretary General, began the event by expressing gratitude to HE the Prime Minister for taking the initiative to convene the meeting and to gauge public opinion through the SEC’s online survey, which has polled more than 1,300 respondents in less than a week.
“This week we have witnessed more than 12,000 teachers vote electronically for members of the Teacher Advisory Committee. This comes after the successful elections for the Advisory Committee of Licence Owners and the Boards of Trustees for Independent Schools,” he said.
The Prime Minister observed that he wanted to hold the meeting since HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani entrusted him with leading the SEC.
“This meeting provides us with an opportunity to listen to our partners in the educational structure, to understand their concerns and to share their aspirations. I call on the council to keep all communication channels open for all opinions and complaints and to undertake the necessary steps to address any concerns.”
HE Sheikha Hind stressed the importance of translating dialogue into practical and realistic steps that can be taken immediately by the SEC and all parties concerned, including civil society organisations.
“I was very pleased to see the thoughts presented in the preliminary analysis of responses to the SEC survey. I fully agree that the lack of Qatari talent in the classroom is a key challenge facing education; and I believe that reinvesting local talent into the education sector is a big part of the solution. Equally, you have the right to hear from us about the priorities set by SEC’s leadership for the future, which include our programme to develop our students’ literacy and numeracy skills.”
The SEC’s international co-operation director, Dr Abdel Aziz al-Tamimi, engaged with attendees in an open dialogue addressing major challenges facing the educational process and priorities for the next five years.
The dialogue covered several areas of concern including the independent school experience, private schools and their role, higher education policies and institutions, the development of national universities and the role of civil society and media in supporting the development process.
It was pointed out that “the status of teachers should be reviewed to enable them to be more productive and creative, abolishing the various administrative and logistic burdens imposed on them by the SEC.”
Qatari teachers and former teachers were critical of the absence of teachers’ issues on the agenda of the meeting.
“Independent schools now have a work environment that is discouraging to Qatari teachers, who could have been the main drivers of education development in the country,” complained Faysal al-Marzouqi, a former Qatari school teacher.
Most attendees agreed the independent schools is a good experiment but it faces several challenges and obstacles that hinder their full growth and progress, mainly the absence of a clear and comprehensive unified strategy of education adopted by the competent authorities.
Further, they voiced their concerns over the escalating discipline problems, lack of parents’ involvement in the process and inability of these schools to fully develop the potentials of students.
Independent schools were first introduced into Qatar in 2001 and currently there are 187 independent schools in the country. Besides, there are 126 private schools of different categories including community and private schools.
“We need private and international schools in Qatar and more of them should be encouraged to operate in the country due to the increasing demand. The government should also support their expansion, especially those renowned for quality education,” suggested Dr Ibrahim al-Naimi, Qatari educationist and a former president of Qatar University.
The participants also criticised the absence of a special department at the SEC to supervise business and technical education, demanding that the country is in serious need to encourage expansion in this segment.
Finally, HE the Prime Minister and Interior Minister promised to constitute a team to study all the ideas and issues. He added that such meetings are to be held annually.
Forum briefed on survey results
The basic foundations of the educational process need revisiting, most participants in the Supreme Education Council’s recent online survey believe.
The survey’s initial findings were presented at an open forum held yesterday. The survey explored the community’s opinions through two main questions about the challenges facing education today and what should be prioritised moving forward.
Most notably, survey results show that participants focused on: the absence of Qatari teachers, lack of financial incentives for teachers, weak curricula, long hours, a weak school transport system, lack of student encouragement, minimal e-learning and the lack of parental involvement and interest.
Also according to the findings, participants believe that priorities should include refocusing on the Arabic language, parent involvement, the development of national talent, curriculum development and behavioural analysis of students.
The SEC is set to work on a complete analysis of the survey results after extending the participation deadline for another week following recommendations from HE the Prime Minister.
