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Malek Helali
Doha
The Ministry of Education and Higher Education has announced its readiness to start the 2018-19 academic year on August 27.
Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, Undersecretary in the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, Dr Ibrahim bin Saleh al Nuaimi, said all bodies concerned in the ministry have been directed to identify the needs of schools and assess their readiness such as filling vacancies of teachers, ensuring availability of adequate classrooms, transportation facility, readiness of school canteens as well as the schools' ability to carry out the necessary maintenance of all their facilities in order to ensure students' security and safety.
Nuaimi reviewed several priority programmes, including the implementation of the project aiming to raise the quality of early education in kindergartens and public schools, and the continuation of the programme concerned with developing national curricula to enable students to acquire knowledge and skills facilitating the transition to higher education and the labour market.
Nuaimi said this year, 711 teachers were trained according to strict standards in terms of scientific qualifications and practical experience.
The total number of teachers in public schools reached 13,440, while the number of teachers in schools and private kindergartens reached 13,591.
The programmes which the ministry continues to implement include institutional performance development programme and upgrading of the quality of services provided to stakeholders by the Ministry of Education and Higher Education.
New projects, which the ministry is working on, will include the opening of the Qatar School of Science and Technology during the upcoming academic year after the completion of all its facilities, in addition to the continued development of services for people with disabilities and learning difficulties.
He said of 14 schools and kindergartens (11 schools and private kindergartens and 3 public schools) will open in the new school year, providing more than 5,065 classrooms. The total number of public schools and kindergartens reached 272 with 116,663 students, while the number of private schools and kindergartens reached 282 attended by 190,644 students.
Nuaimi said there are 24 higher education institutions in Qatar, offering various scientific and literary disciplines, granting bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees.
Fawzia Abdul Aziz al Khater, Assistant Undersecretary for Educational Affairs, said the ministry has opened several public and specialised schools in the country's various geographic regions.
Khaled al Harqan, Director of the department of Evaluation, said the distribution of exam scores for the new academic year has been modified to 40 percent for the first term and 60 percent for the second term. He said the schools are ready for the international TIMS exam in science and mathematics for grades four and eight during March and April 2019.
Tarek Abdullah al Abdullah, Minister's Advisor for Private Schools Affairs, said that private schools have achieved diversity in Qatar, referring to the licensing of 11 private schools and kindergartens for the new academic year, which provides 4,000 seats. He said that Qatar has offered funding to build schools offering 6,000 seats and will also be offering buildings for rent to operate private schools according to the growing demand."During the new school year 2018-19, 60 percent of the private sector needs of schools will be covered according to the five-year plan for private schools," he added.
Abdullatif al Nuaimi, Director of the Department of Services, said 2,117 school buses were distributed to all the schools, in addition to 15 buses for students with special needs.
