The committee stressed that affordable private Indian schools should be given more flexible grace periods to admit more students
Doha
The Supreme Education Council (SEC) should allow schools that charge low fees to admit more students and give them adequate time to meet official norms as there is a great demand for seats in such schools, the Education Committee of Qatar Chamber (QC) has said.
In a recent meeting, headed by QC vice chairman and head of the education committee Mohamed bin Ahmed bin Tuwar, committee members agreed that such affordable schools, especially the Indian ones, are facing increasing challenges to admit more students . "They should be given a more flexible timeframe and support to comply with the safety standards of the Civil Defense and allowed to admit as many students as possible until they manage to work out some permanent solutions," the committee opined.
In particular, the committee discussed the issue of the MES Indian School, which is facing difficulties such as a total ban on admissions, particularly to the lower classes. The school has been asked to reduce its student numbers from 11,000 to about 5,000. "This will cause a major challenge for the school in the long run. Though officials from the SEC have conducted field visits and taken some measures to help them, more practical steps should be taken to help the school," the members of the committee stressed .
HE the Minister of Education and Higher Education has welcomed a suggestion to hold a meeting with the representatives of QC education committee to discuss all the issues regarding private education in the country and work out possible solutions, bin Tuwar said.
In the meantime, the committee reviewed the legislations regarding private education in Qatar and the related ministerial and administrative decisions and regulations, and their impact on this sector.
It has also reviewed the final copy of a questionnaire designed to collect information on the difficulties and challenges facing private schools in the country. When approved, such questionnaires will be distributed to all the entities concerned and the collected data will be analysed. Based on that, a report will be prepared by a team of experts for further action.
