Friday 27 January 2017

63 new private schools receive initial approval in Qatar

The Ministry of Education and Higher Education has granted initial approval to 63 new private schools to open in the next academic year, an official said yesterday.

They include 23 schools with British curriculum, 13 American, 12 Indian, two Egyptian, two Tunisian, one Canadian, one French, one Lebanese and eight schools following the Qatari national curriculum.

“These schools have got the initial approval. They must fulfill the licensing requirements related to school building, educational plan, school organization, staff etc within June 30 this year. If they fail to do that, the approval will be automatically cancelled,” Hamad Al Ghali, director of the Private Schools Office at the Ministry told The Peninsula yesterday.

" If they complete all the procedures and meet all the requirements within the given deadline, they will be able to start operation in the next academic year (2017-2018),” he added. As per the ministry rules, an applicant seeking licence to open a private school might be a company that is already registered in Qatar, an international company not registered in Qatar or an individual or a consortium who would seek to establish a company in Qatar once the initial application has been approved.

The applicant should provide information about the proposed name of the school, the phases to be covered (kindergarten, primary, secondary), the gender of students, the projected maximum student numbers, and the proposed structure of the school year and calendar.

The school should also provide information about its governance, management, staffing and administration structure, the proposed number of staff, the proposed ratio of teachers to students, the proposed average class size, the proposed international accreditation status, student transport arrangements.

The school should have a target to attract a minimum of 25percent Qatari students. This requirement, however, does not apply to community schools. All private schools are required to teach Arabic, Islamic Studies and Qatari history subject to conditions set out by the Ministry. All textbooks and education sources used by the school must conform with Qatari values and traditions. The Ministry has the right to cancel any book or curriculum that fails to meet this requirement, said the official.

(Source: The Peninsula)

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