Qatar’s top Indian schools close admissions early

A notice displayed on the gates of the Birla Public School. Picture Shaji Kayamkulam)By Joseph Varghese/Staff ReporterParents seeking admission for their children in Indian schools in Qatar may have a hard time ahead following a Supreme Education Council (SEC) fiat calling for bringing class strengths down to manageable levels, it is learnt.Those looking for seats in higher classes will be particularly hit as schools scramble to find a way to bring down the number of students in each class to around 30, sources said yesterday. Many of these schools  have more than 40 students in a class now.Some of the schools that used to accept students until early April have already closed admissions for the next academic year starting from April.   The SEC, in an effort to improve the quality of education and children’s safety, has asked all schools to reduce the number of students in each class to manageable levels to maintain a healthy student-teacher ratio. This will, in effect, result in denial of admission to many unless the schools take remedial steps like finding new premises soon.Officials of some of the schools told  Gulf Times that they had received instructions from the SEC to reduce the number of students in crowded classrooms. As a result the schools have been constrained to restrict the intake of new students or look for new premises. Unless they find suitable buildings to operate from, it will not be possible  for them admit new students.  Three leading Indian schools that have more than 5,000 students each are likely to be affected the most. MES Indian School, Qatar’s largest expatriate school, with around 10,000 students and Ideal Indian School and Birla Public School with  above 5,000 each, will not be able to accept more students unless they find new premises.Some of these schools are already on the lookout for suitable places so that they can comply with the SEC directions.  They have also closed  admissions for the new academic year. MES Indian School principal A P Sasidharan said  his school had stopped admissions for this year.  He said: “This year admissions are given only to  Kindergarten 1. We have no seats for any other class. So we have stopped admissions completely. “He  said  the school was looking for expansion  to meet the increasing demand . “We are looking for a new purpose-built building that can solve the problem. We have also requested permission from the SEC to operate in two  shifts.  If allowed, we will start both morning and afternoon shifts .”Birla Public School principal A K Shrivastava said the school had closed admissions for all classes. He explained: “Admissions for 2014 -2015 are closed. There are no seats available for any class in our school. We have to comply with the directives of the SEC and as it is we will not take new students.”Shrivastava, however, said  the school was on the lookout to overcome the issue. “We are looking for other premises. If we  get any suitable place, we will be able to admit more children.” He also said that the school had written to the SEC for permission to start a shift system. An official of Ideal Indian School said admission was very  much restricted this year and places were available only in Kindergarten 1. He said  the KG 1 seats were almost full and all the admissions would be completed by the month’s end. He added that there was no possibility of admitting any student in the higher classes. Though there are about 11 Indian schools in Qatar it is highly unlikely that they will be able to meet the demand from the growing Indian population in the country.