DOHA: Seats are available at all private schools and no student has been forced to sit at home for failure to get admission, a senior official of the Supreme Education Council (SEC) has said.
Hamad Al Ghali, director of Private Schools Office at SEC urged parents to take up their complaints related to private schools directly to his office instead of going to the media.
“The Private Schools Office is open to all. There are experts to look into different types of complaints. We contact the school concerned and try to settle the issue amicably. Despite this, some parents are going to the media, instead of communicating with our office,” said Al Ghali in an interview with Al Arab daily published yesterday. “No Qatari or non-Qatari (student) who holds a residence permit has been forced to sit at home. Seats are available in all private schools and in all specialisations,” he added.
Admissions at private schools start in March/April and close in October. No registration is allowed after October. However, there can be exemptions for some expatriates, especially new comers.
Al Ghali said there is no discrimination between Qatari and non-Qatari students in private and international schools, provided they fulfil all the requirements. He said increase in salaries of teachers and other staff is one of the criteria while considering fee increase requests from private schools.
Schools seeking a fee hike are supposed to submit a three-year financial statement including details about salaries.
“We ensure there is an increase in salaries of teachers and administrative staff (while considering the requests),” said Al Ghali.
SEC monitors the selection process of teachers at private schools through their contracts. Recruitment should meet specifications in different areas. Teachers in grade 1 to 4 must hold a bachelor’s degree while those in higher classes must have a specialisation in their respective areas.
The SEC, in tie-up with an international financial company, has set up standards for fee hike. There are 18 criteria. The company gives its opinion on every fee hike request to a special committee at SEC, which takes decisions.
Earlier, there was a five to 10 percent cap on fee hike. Later, increases up to 25 percent were approved, especially for schools facing financial crisis. No increase beyond this limit will be approved.
The SEC started receiving applications for fee hike last December and approvals will be announced in the months to come, said the official.
He said no school was allowed to impose any additional fee without SEC approval. If SEC receives a genuine complaint from the parent, it will force the school to refund the amount collected as additional fee in a week.
He said SEC has not received any such complaints this year. Additional fees include registration fees, for opening a file for a student (a one-time amount of a maximum QR2,000), reserving a seat, books and transportation.
Al Ghali said all 156 private schools have fulfilled safety and security requirements set by the Civil Defence Department.
“We monitor safety of kindergartens and schools in different levels. We stopped some schools from upgrading to a higher level because they didn’t have required space,” said Al Ghali.
“We limited some schools to KG level because their areas were not enough to accommodate the elementary level,” he added.
He said private schools are free to decide whether to follow co-education or not. However, the Private Schools Office is encouraging separation between male and female students.
He said there is a plan to attract more reputable international schools. “We have received applications to open schools following the British, French, American and Canadian curricula,” he said.
The Peninsula
