DOHA: Due to alleged delays in payment, schools have given a deadline to many families accepted by the educational voucher programme of the Supreme Education Council (SEC) to pay for fees before January 3, Al Raya daily reported yesterday.
Unless parents pay before this date, measures may be taken to prevent their children from continuing in school. Schools have stated that the process is very complicated and does not allow them to meet their financial and administrative obligations.
Both sides see the accountability of the delay lays on the Supreme Education Council, the Ministry of Finance and the institutions that employ parents, Al Raya reported.
Some parents also disapprove of the process because it forces them to demonstrate every three months that their kids continue in the same school.
However, both families and schools have said there is a lack of transparency in the process, which makes it difficult to identify who is responsible for the delay. In September, 32 private schools were selected for the educational voucher programme of the SEC.
Educational vouchers allow Qatari children to pursue school education at selected private schools in the country, if they so wish. The programme is intended to give them more options while seeking quality education.
The vouchers represent money given by the state to Qatari students to cover their school fees, fully or partially. The draft law stipulates the value of the voucher to be QR28,000 per year.
The vouchers are available to all Qatari students admitted in schools selected by the SEC according to certain terms and conditions. The government has to pay the money to the schools on behalf of the students.
The Peninsula
