DOHA: The Supreme Education Council (SCH) has relaxed some of the admission procedures for private school students, but strictly instructed the schools not to admit children above their permitted capacity.
Admission to private schools in Qatar has started yesterday and will continue until October 15. Any admission outside these dates will require the approval of the SEC.
As per the new rules, permission from the SEC is not required to transfer children between private schools. And an expatriate student seeking admission in a private school is no more required to produce an equivalency certificate from the SEC.
The SEC has given initial approval to 91 new private schools to open in the next academic year, including six Indian schools, a senior SEC official has disclosed.
Aisha Al Hashmi, Assistant Director of Education Authority of Private School Affairs at SEC, said that complaints about a severe shortage of seats in private schools, especially Indian schools will be addressed with the opening of new schools.
She hinted that some existing Indian schools would open new branches very soon, probably by next month. “By September 2015, six Indian schools will open, some of them will be only kindergartens and others will have classes for other grades as well. Schools which were not allowed to admit more students due to lack of seats will soon open branches, it could be even by April before the Indian Schools start their academic year,” she said addressing a news conference yesterday.
“The new schools will be an alternative option for parents and their fees will be lower compared to some other private schools,” she added.
A total of 145,000 students are presently studying at private schools and 23,000 of them are Qataris.
In the 2014-2015 academic year, 15 new schools and seven new branches of existing schools across the country opened making the total number of private schools to 154. The new SEC guidelines on admission procedures specifically say that all private schools are required to identify the number of vacancies before the registration period begins, as well as after completing the registration process, and inform the SEC.
And schools are not allowed to admit children above capacity unless an approval is obtained from the SEC.
“If any complaints are made against schools admitting children beyond capacity, it will be investigated by a special committee which will also decide the punishment,” said Al Hashmi.
As per new rules, permission from the SEC is not required to transfer children between private schools.
Only Qatari students moving from a private or international school to an Independent school requires certificates authenticated by Attestation and Equivalency Unit of the SEC to show equivalency.
If a student wants to transfer from a Independent school to private school, then the private school will specify conditions, said Al Hashmi.
Also expatriate students from abroad are required to provide only certificates from their last schools. Earlier, a certificate of equivalence had to be attested by the SEC during admission of such students. “Now a certification of equivalence will not be required. A student coming to Qatar needs only to provide educational certificates to the school. And the school decides according to their system. Main criteria are the age and academic level of the student,” said Al Hashmi.
However, any student entering Qatar on a visa valid for less than a year will not be allowed to be admitted to a school.
Age is the primary consideration for admission but in exceptional circumstances, parents and the school could agree to admit a child a class less or higher. But the maximum difference between children in a class should not be more than two years.
But when a student is enrolled in an age-inappropriate class, the school is required to ensure that parents are aware of immediate and long-term implications of such a decision. Parents will be required to sign a consent form. “If a student comes from abroad and is found to be weak or exceptional in performance, school can admit the child into a lower or higher class after informing the parents and the SEC,” said Al Hashmi.
The Peninsula
