DOHA: A new law will soon be issued to regulate the private education/tuition centres in the country and ensure that they are competent to provide the promised services. It will amend Law No 6 of 2000 governing such centres.
According to data provided by the SEC, there are 194 education centres providing coaching in administration and business related subjects, 31 in foreign languages, 30 giving tuitions to school students, 28 in computers and two in translation, among others.
According to the draft law, prepared by the Supreme Education Council (SEC), all these centres have to obtain a licence from the SEC and should furnish full details about credentials of their directors, trainers and other staff. This is to ensure that they are qualified to do their jobs.
While applying for a licence, they should specify the type of service they are going to provide. If they are issuing a certificate to their students, they should get prior approval from the SEC.
All employees should be sponsored by the facility. They are not allowed to change their premises or transfer ownership to another person without approval from the SEC. If any centre decides to close down, the SEC should be informed.
The centres are not permitted to offer college or university programmes accredited to foreign universities without an approval from the SEC. They are not authorised to issue diplomas or other higher education degrees. They can only issue certificates to trainees.
Putting advertisements violating these provisions, failure to renew licences or any other violation of the law could result in cancellation of the licence. Since 2002, all these centres have been banned from providing university services and facilitating admissions to foreign universities.
In a statement on its website, the SEC urged students and parents to check details about these centres before seeking admission. They can gather details about each facility from the special office at SEC dealing with private education centres. The SEC is working on a project to set up a comprehensive database on all education, training and tuition centres and will monitor the centres through inspectors having judicial powers. The Peninsula
