DOHA: There is a huge rush for children’s registration in kindergartens of Independent Schools which has led school managements to increase the number of students in a KG class to 33 from 25.
The clamour or admission, obviously, is mainly from citizens, an operator-cum-director of a large education complex (Al Bayan) has said.
Many parents prefer to get their children registered in several schools for admission so they can choose the best one among them.
A number of parents who send their children to private kindergartens aren’t quite happy as they say they keep increasing their fee from time to time. The parents have called on the education sector regulator, the Supreme Education Council (SEC), to ensure that kindergartens don’t raise their fee unjustifiably.
The best way to ensure that kindergartens don’t take undue advantage of the rush for admission is that more such facilities are opened across the country leading to competition, a parent said.
“The problem presently is that there aren’t enough kindergartens to meet the demand,” an aggrieved parent told local Arabic daily Al Raya. Many parents said that due to the shortage of kindergartens they have to send their children for schooling to far-off places.
The country’s population has been increasing rapidly but the number of kindergartens remains more or less the same, claim parents. “We demand more kindergartens and additional seats in the existing ones to cater to a growing population,” said Umm Hayan, a mother who is looking for a suitable school to register her child.
The fee slabs of foreign kindergartens start from QR16,000 per year while those of Arabic ones range up to QR8,000.
“I admitted my child in a private kindergarten in place of independent school so he could be fluent in English but their admission tests are very tough,” said Ibtesam Al Ghifari, mother of a child. How a four years old child can pass such touch tests and what they (school) supposed to play a role if we (parents) send an educated child there, said the angry mother.
“Private schools asks QR5,000 to book the seat for one child, I have three children so I have to pay QR15,000 to reserve seats for them,” said Zaynab Al Ashkinani.
The online registration system should be started in all schools, including privates, independents and community ones to make the registration system fair and smooth, she added.
More private schools should be added in the list of SEC for issuing education vouchers that include only 32 schools so for, so the citizens could benefit more in all over the country.
The Peninsula
