DOHA: The Supreme Education Council (SEC) has told the Central Municipal Council (CMC) that it is working on a “satisfactory policy” to curb the frequent hikes in private school fees.
Responding to complaints raised by the CMC about the prohibitory fees charged by many private schools here, the SEC said the issue has been referred to a special committee to develop a future strategy, according to Al Sharq.
The daily said the CMC had received a letter from the SEC in which it said that the regulatory body is working “to develop a satisfactory policy to curb increases in school fees in the coming years.”
The SEC said it is also developing a proposal for specifying tuition fees and other additional fees of private schools.
Requests from schools seeking fee hike are handled by a special committee at the Private Schools Office and requests from schools that fail to give genuine reasons for the hike have not been approved, said the SEC.
Since 2009, different private schools were allowed to raise their fees by five to 20 percent, said the SEC, adding that the average increase didn’t go beyond five per cent during this period.
The SEC said there is a consensus that school fees should be controlled based on the principle of transparency and in a way that responds to all needs of the students. There is a proposal to link the fees with the quality of education provided by the school concerned, it added.
The issue was first raised by CMC member Ali bin Shaheen Al Kuwari, who drew attention to the wide disparities in the fees charged by different private schools. The civic body also raised concern over commercialisation of education in the country arguing that many private schools have degenerated into money-making institutions. The CMC expressed surprise over the fact that school fees in Qatar are higher than the university fees.
The CMC had also raised many other issues related to education, but the SEC response was limited to the fee issue, said the daily.
The Peninsula
