DOHA: Over 50 percents of private schools and Kindergarten (KG) have applied to raise tuition fees for the academic year 2018-2019.

However, only 18 percent of the schools were given approval, said the Ministry of Education and Higher Education yesterday. Also, the ministry has received 44 applications for opening new schools for the coming academic year.

A total of 144 private schools and KGs, out of 278 schools in the country, had applied for increasing fees for the next academic year but most of them did not fulfil the requirements, said Hamad Al Ghali, Director of the Private Schools Licensing.

A total of 29 schools and KGs were excluded for not fulfilling the requirements during the first round of assessment for not fulfilling the requirements, or failing to prove their eligibility, Al Ghali added.

The applications of only 27 schools and KGs (11 schools and 16 KGs) were approved out of the remaining 115 schools and KGs and after conducting two stage screening by specialised financial and administrative teams, Al Ghali pointed out. The increment of the tuition fees ranged between 2 percent to 20 percent, he explained.

The ministry is keen and committed to transparency regarding private schools tuition fees and the rights of parent to know the sums required before enrolling their children so that parents can choose schools according to their capacity, said the Advisor of the Minister of Education and Higher Education for Private Schools Affairs, Tarek Al Abdullah.

He said that all schools must announce their tuition fees for the 2018-2019 academic year before the beginning of registration on March 1.

The school must also inform the parents of the students about the details of the fees including obligatory fees and the optional ones.

Accordingly parents can decide whether they will enroll their children in the same school or move them to a different one.

Al Abdullah stressed that the goal of updating the procedures was to help parents in order to ultimately boost the educational process. He also said that evaluation of private schools have become a mandatory process in light of the new legislative powers of the Ministry.

The press conference was also attended by Hassan Al Mohammadi, Director of Public Relations and Media, at the Ministry.

The advisor of the Minister then discussed the commitment of the Ministry to improve the capabilities of teachers, as well as the role of the private sector in improving the performance of teachers. He highlighted a number of projects and initiatives that the ministry will undertake in the near future in that regard.

Hamad Al Ghali pointed out that the Ministry has received 44 applications for opening new schools for the coming academic year, and the Ministry has given initial approval for accomplishing the process and requirements by June 30 this year. Al Ghali noted that currently there is no ceiling for tuition fees, but that there was a plan for a new system classification system.

Registration will take place from March 1-October 31. Parents can receive a refund of fees paid by April 2018 within two months.

Al Ghali emphasised that there is no link between tuition fees and transportation fee and school uniforms are optional and no one can force parents to pay them in advance or retrospectively if they have other choices and the ministry has clarified on that. Parents should not pay fees which is not approved by the Ministry he added.

The total number of private schools utilising the school voucher system are 79, Al Ghali stressed.

The academic calendar for private schools will start on August 29, 2018. The midterm break will be from December 23 to January 3. School will actually start on January 6, as the 3rd of the month will be a Thursday. The spring break will be from April 7-11. Given April 11 is a Thursday; school will start on April 14. He noted however the schools of different communities are operated under the supervision of their embassies, which decide on their own academic calendar.

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