DOHA: Qatar plans to set up a national centre for educational training and is working on a new assessment system to evaluate the performance of teachers and school administrators, the Minister of Education and Higher Education, H E Dr Mohammed bin Abdul Wahid Al Hammadi, has said.
“We will continue to exert efforts to set up a national centre for developing educational leaders and teachers and to apply a new system to evaluate the performance of principals and teachers,” the Minister told the media on Wednesday.
Dr Al Hammadi said that the Supreme Education Council had issued a student conduct code and Code of Professional Conduct for Teachers last year to give school administrators powers to deal firmly with disciplinary issues in schools.
“We started the new academic year 2014/2015 by issuing the code of professional conduct for teachers, which enhances the key values that must be shown by the teachers and those who are working in the education field and most important of which are honesty, impartiality, objectivity, diligence and efficiency,” said the minister.
The minister said that during the new academic year the SEC would seek to promote the skills of reading, writing and arithmetic in early education and to improve the performance of students in national and international tests.
“We seek to draw up a national development strategy and review Qatar National Curriculum, which is based on our identity, our culture and our values, and ensure that the quality of the educational process is in accordance with the national framework,” said the minister.
“We work to strengthen partnerships in the educational process with existing local community institutions, regional, international institutions and adopt effective strategies to communicate with the community to create a public opinion and a positive behaviour pattern about the education system in the country,” he added.
The minister also stressed the state’s interest in developing vocational education in order to meet the demand in the labour market for nationals, citing in this regard professional disciplines in a number of educational institutions such as the Community College of Qatar, College of the North Atlantic and the University of Calgary.
The minister yesterday met operators and directors of Independent schools and listened to their problems and concerns ahead of the new academic year.
THE PENINSULA
