Ranked among top four Pakistani schools in the Gulf region, the 30-year-old institute has produced hundreds of quality students who have gone on to write their own success stories in different fields. Every year, the school’s students fetch honours in different inter-school competitions besides excelling academically.
Recently, the school’s debating team secured top position in QDSL 2015-16 with best team and best individual speaker position. Academically, the school managed an excellent result with over 97 pass percentage in the Federal Board of Pakistan’s Secondary School Certificate (SSC) examination in 2015.
As one of the few schools chosen by Supreme Education Council (SEC) to start evening school for overage children in Doha, PEC is looking forward to extend its building and add a campus with IGCSE curriculum.
Community speaks to Principal of PEC Nargis Raza Otho about the top achievements of the school and how one of Doha’s oldest educational institutes plans to expand in future. Excerpts:
Tell us about some of the most recent academic performances or awards won by students of your school?
Our students excel in major academic events organised by different institutes. For instance, our school stands at top position in QDSL 2015-16 (debating competition) with ‘best team’ and ‘best individual speaker’ performances. Zoha Sattar of grade XII was declared as the best speaker amongst 147 speakers from 26 schools in Qatar.
As a reward British Council sent her to UK in November to attend live debate at the House of Commons in the British parliament in London. Another brilliant student Mahnoor Shahid won 2nd position in Toast Masters competition 2015 organised by ICC One Toast Masters. We are also working on a project organised by MUN (Model United Nations) along with Park House School.
Our students won a trophy in Islamic Quiz Competition organised by Stafford Sri Lankan School Doha.
We have also been organising annual interschool literary competitions for three years. In first year of these competitions, seven schools participated however the number of participating schools has now increased to 18.
Beside these interschool competitions, we also organise annual competitions for our school which include annual spelling bee competition, annual scrabble competition, annual Science exhibition Quiz competitions and many more.
How do the students of PEC perform compared to their competitors back in Pakistan in the Federal Board of Pakistan examination?
Our school stands among top 4 schools of Gulf region. This year the Federal Board Pakistan result was 86.23 % whereas our school’s result was 97.79% in SSC examinations 2015. Similarly, our students excelled in HSSC examination 2015 with pass percentage of 88.41 whereas the pass percentage of Federal board in Pakistan was just 73.
Being the oldest institution in town how does PEC keep up with the latest technological advancements and smart solutions coming up in the field of education?
We are always looking forward to give our students the best possible learning environment in school. Our teachers are growing themselves professionally by completing courses like TKT and CELTA in Doha and curriculum development and class room management from Eastern Mediterranean University Cyprus.
Moreover, we have started ESL (English Skill Learning) classes in KG and Junior grades and we are setting up language labs for the senior students. We have also upgraded our science and computer laboratories and now our laboratories are well equipped with latest technologies.
PEC students have access to well-equipped laboratories and libraries.
What are some of the problems or challenges you face at the school? How do you overcome these problems?
The biggest challenge we face every year is that we get many more admissions but due to limited space we are unable to accommodate them in our school. Another challenge is to groom our students in all aspects so that they become useful citizens and excel in their practical life. Our biggest task, which we take as a challenge, is to compete with other international schools being a community school.
Does PEC have any provision for free education for deserving children?
Our school is a community school. It has already a very low fee structure which is affordable but still if there are any deserving students there are different forums that provide them financial aids.
How do you promote extra-curricular activities at the school?
We believe that extra-curricular activities are equally important for the grooming and overall development of a child and therefore we organise different activities throughout the year for our students like football, cricket, badminton, drama galore and many more.
Students also participate in such activities organised by different educational institutes in Doha. We also participate in Qatar National Day celebrations every year. Our students are also selected in National Female cricket team of Qatar.
This year we celebrated our 30th anniversary in which our students showcased their talents in different ways. The event was attend by different scholars from Qatar University, Education City, Qatar Foundation, heads of international schools of Doha and many more renowned personalities from Qatar.
