Speaker chairs Advisory Council weekly meeting

The Advisory Council held its weekly meeting yesterday under the chairmanship of HE the Speaker of Advisory Council Ahmed bin Abdullah bin Zaid al-Mahmoud.The Speaker extended congratulations to His Highness the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, on behalf of himself and members of the Advisory Council, on the advent of the Holy Month of Ramadan, asking Allah the Almighty to return it to His Highness the Amir, and to the loyal people of Qatar and its residents with further prosperity and more achievements, and to the Arab and Islamic nations with security, peace and stability.The Council discussed a draft law on the regulation of receipt and disbursement of Zakat funds. The draft law consists of (16) articles, and comes to replace Law No. (8) of 1992 establishing the Zakat Fund. Under the draft law, the competent department of the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs shall undertake the receipt and disbursement of Zakat funds in accordance with the aspects prescribed in Shariah.After a discussion, the Council decided to refer the draft law to the Legal and Legislative Affairs Committee to study it and submit a report thereon to the Council.The Council also discussed the report of the Cultural and Information Affairs Committee on the general debate request on education in Qatar.The recommendations of the committee included development of curriculum. The committee recommended that the Islamic, Arab and national identity of the Qatari society be emphasised in the curriculum, and that the curricula of the Arabic language and Islamic studies be standardised at public as well as private schools.The committee recommended sports and cultural activities for students and promoting e-learning through the development of modern and contemporary teaching methods instead of the methods of memorisation. The committee also recommended to take care of discovering the talents and distinctive abilities of the students in the first stages of education and to pay attention to the general health for students. It also recommended that scholarships be given on the basis of citizenship and scientific competence.On the development of education, the committee recommended tackling the reluctance of Qatari teachers from the profession of education by giving them priority in employment, developing incentives to attract graduates of the Faculty of Education as well as graduates of other disciplines, reducing the tasks and the long working hours, increasing the days of annual leave, determining the career path of the teacher to ensure the inclusion in career promotions and preparing training programmes for all classes of teachers and administrative and supervisory staff in order to raise their professional and educational levels. (QNA)