DOHA: Qatari female students continue to outnumber their male counterparts in universities and make up more than 50 percent of the students in private universities in the country, Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics data show.
The recently-released Qatar Social Statistics 2003-2012 also indicates that Qatari female students are more likely to complete education unlike male students who often enter the job market after high school.
During 2011-2012 academic year, there were 17,000 university students, accounting for 7.3 percent of total enrolment on all educational levels. The annual growth rate rose between 2010 and 2012, reaching 12 percent.
In 2011-2012, Qatari female students made up 54.5 percent of total female enrolments in private universities while Qatari male students represented 55 percent of total male enrolments.
During 2011-2012, female students constituted 65 percent of total students enrolled in universities. There were 187 female students for every 100 male students in colleges. There were 237,000 students during 2011-2012 in all levels of education (kindergartens to universities). Teachers and staff reached 23,153 — 24 percent males and 76 percent females. The number of schools (kindergartens to secondary) were 725, whereas there were 14 universities.
The total number of kindergartens was 262 of which 20 were for boys and 18 for girls, and there were 222 mixed kindergartens during the period.
The number of children in kindergartens reached 41,287, of whom 69 percent were enrolled in kindergartens run by foreigners. There were about 13 students per teacher, with an average 22 in one class. The female-male ratio of students in kindergartens during 2011-2012 was 94 to 100.
The number of primary schools was 212, of which 62 were for boys, 61 for girls and 89 mixed schools. Primary enrolments were larger than preparatory and secondary ones.
During 2011-2012, there were 101,000 students in primary schools, accounting for 46 percent of enrolments in all levels of education. There were 10 students per teacher, with an average 23 in each class. The female-male ratio of students was 96 to 100. The net enrolment rate in primary education rose to 94 percent for females and 93.6 percent for males in 2012. Over the last four years, there was a significant increase in the number of students enrolled in preparatory and secondary schools. The number was 77,000 during 2011-2012, accounting for 35 percent of enrolments in all levels of education.
The number of preparatory and secondary schools totalled 251, including 73 for boys, 67 for girls and 111 mixed schools. Gross enrolment rate was 96.8 percent.
The number of students at private and government training centres rose to 70,000 in 2012. Qatari males constituted 28 percent of trainees, while Qatari females represented 25 percent. Among non-Qatari trainees, 39 percent were males and 8 percent females.
In 2012, the number of trainees at private centres totalled 27,000, of whom 52 percent were interested in management training.
Statistics showed a fall in illiteracy in 2012 to 3.3 percent, more strikingly among the age group 15-24, 0.2 percent among females and 1.3 percent among males. In 2012, a greater proportion of men — 72.8 percent — than women (27.2 percent) were enrolled in adult education centres. The Peninsula
