Doha: Ministry of Education and Higher Education received 57 new applications for license to operate private schools during the academic year 2019-2020
Hamad Al Ghali, Director of Licensing of Private Schools at the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, told the Arabic newspaper Al Sharq that the applications will be approved after studying whether they conform to the requirements and standards set by the department.
He also told the daily that the licensing department
received applications for 10 national schools, 14 American schools, 21 British schools, 7 Indian schools and 4 Finnish, French, Canadian and Egyptian schools.
To promote investment in the sector, the ministry in cooperation with the Ministry of Economy and Industry has allocated 11 plots of land to investors to establish private schools.
Al Ghali said that the land will be allocated through tenders and already 6 plots were handed over to investors for setting up schools offering British and Indian curricula provided they are completed in two years. These schools are expected to see investment worth QR 750 million riyals.
Application of 3 other investors is under study. In addition, there plans to lease government buildings to the private sector for operating schools with different curricula, to stimulate private sector participation in economic and educational development projects.
“In the Ministry of Education, we have decided to exempt all private schools from electricity, water and customs clearance fees in order to encourage investment in this sector,” Al Ghali told Al Sharq.
According to the Director of Licensing of Private Schools, the minimum requirement for setting up a kindergarten is that the building must be at least 1,250 square meters and for primary, it should be 2,750 square meters. For schools that have both kindergarten and primary, the building must be not less than 4,000 square meters, for preparatory or secondary it is 3,500 square meters and for schools, with all stages, the building must not be less than 9,500 square meters.
When asked about the collection of tuition fees during registration, the director clarified that the “tuition fees can be collected at the beginning of each semester and not during registration. During registration, schools can charge a seat fee of between QR 2,000 and QR 3,000 riyals, which should be refunded or deducted from tuition fees later.”
“We also cautioned all schools do not ask for post-dated cheques from parents during the registration period. The parent is not obliged to pay the expenses either in cash or bank cheque until the beginning of the study,” he added.
