By MOHAMMED IQBAL and MOHAMMED OSMAN
DOHA: Only those private schools facing financial losses will be allowed to increase the fees, head of the Private Schools Office at the Supreme Education Council (SEC) said yesterday.
All schools seeking a fee hike are required to submit a complete financial report, along with other documents. The approval will be granted based on a thorough evaluation of the financial status and academic performance of the school.
“Private schools are profit-oriented institutions and every school should get a profit against the services they are providing. Fees in different schools are different as well as their profits. If the school didn’t face a loss then no increase in fees, because any loss may threaten its survival,” Hamad Mohammed Al Ghali, Director of the Private Schools Office, said in an interview with The Peninsula.
This year, more than 50 percent of the applications from private schools seeking fee hike was rejected. Schools incurring losses have been allowed to increase their fees, by two to 10 percent.
“Only four schools have been given approval to hike the fees by 10 percent because they will be forced to close down if the request is not approved” said Al Ghali.
“If the school has a loss of 30 percent, we will not allow it to increase the fees by 30 percent at one go. Instead they would be granted permission to hike the fees by 10 percent every year, over three years,” he added.
Once a fee hike is approved by the SEC, it will not be reduced or cancelled. No school will be allowed to impose different types of fees for different type of curricula, without an approval from the SEC.
There are 18 standards that are considered before approving a fee hike request. The school should submit a financial report showing operational costs, total income, net profit and how many time the school increased the fee in the previous three years.
The existing fee of the school will be compared with the curriculum, the level of the school, quality of education and student achievement. The special committee studying fee hike requests will also check whether the school has acquired local or international accreditation.
A survey will also be conducted among students, parents, and teachers to assess their satisfaction level about the school environment and academic performance.
Al Ghali said there are some private and international schools that impose fee hike before it is approved by the SEC.
“This is a major issue we are facing about private schools. When we get such information, immediately we ask the school to correct the mistake. Such violation can lead to closure of the school but until now we have not closed down any private school because of a violation. The reason is that when we ask them to rectify the error, they do it in one week or two,” said Al Ghali.
Currently, there are 156 private schools and 86 private kindergartens in Qatar which have enrolled 158,642 students.
The SEC has issued licence to open 16 new schools this year, including seven schools following British curriculum, five using American curriculum, two Indian schools and two French schools.
Asked about complaints from parents about shortage of seats in some private schools, especially Indian schools, the official said, “I can assure that if any Indian parent approaches me seeking a seat in an Indian school for his child, I can arrange that.
“There are seats available but the problem is that some parents are looking for specific schools,” he added.
He said such complaints are more about Indian schools and the SEC has a five-year plan to address the issue, by opening new schools.
“We plan to open new private schools (of different categories) every year to meet the increasing demand,” said Al Ghali.
He added that some existing schools also plan to open their branches to accommodate more students.
The SEC has put a ceiling on the number of students each school can accommodate, based on its capacity.
However, there is no strict rule limiting the number of students in a class to 30.
The number can vary depending on the size of the classroom and this will be decided by the technical team at the SEC.
No school is permitted to discriminate between students during admission, based on their nationality or other factors.
However, community schools functioning under the embassies of their countries can give priority to students from the respective nationality.
All private schools are required to follow the unified schedule for school holidays in Qatar, in the start, middle and end of the academic year.
However, there is some relaxation in the rule in the case of mid-year vacation for schools that have examinations.
The difference in holidays must not be more than one week and all schools should fulfil the condition of having 180 teaching days.
The Peninsula
DOHA: The Supreme Education Council (SEC) has asked all private schools not to dismiss any student in the middle of the academic year, a senior official said yesterday.
Hamad Al Ghali, Director, Private Schools Office at SEC, said disciplinary guidelines issued by the SEC to Independent schools do not apply to private schools.
“However, there is a general instruction to Independent and private schools not to dismiss any student in the middle of the academic year,” said Al Ghali.
He said an approval from the SEC is no more required for transfer of students from one private school to another. However, students transferring from a private school to an Independent school must go through Evaluation Institute at the SEC for equivalence certificate.
The Peninsula
