+ A
A -
Hisham AlJundi
Doha
The Ministry of Education and Higher Education on Wednesday signed contracts for leasing and allocating government land to establish and operate six private schools with national companies that have won the bids.
The six schools to be established under these contracts cover all grades from KG to 12th.
While five of the schools will follow British curriculum, the sixth one will have Indian curriculum.
The Technical Committee of the ministerial group had floated tenders inviting bids from the private sector for setting up schools as part of its efforts to encourage greater participation by the private sector in the economic development projects.
The contracts were signed on behalf of Minister of Education and Higher Education HE Dr Mohammed bin Abdulwahid al Hammadi by Director of the Department of Common Services at the ministry Mohammed al Hajri and representatives of schools and companies that won the bids.
"The project will provide 8,000 more seats for students and will help meet the growing demand for school seats given the growing population in Qatar," Advisor to the Minister of Education and Higher Education for Private Schools Affairs Tarek al Abdullah said.
He pointed out that they took into consideration the population density when allocating and distributing schools in various regions of the country to achieve balanced development.
The project will be completed within two years.
Hajri said private sector is a key partner in the education sector in Qatar.
He said there are 281 private schools and kindergartens in the country, offering more than 25 curricula. He said the private schools accommodate more than 190,644 students and employ over 11,629 teachers.
He said the ministry is committed to the promotion of private education by implementing the strategic plan for 2017-2022, which has one major result: the construction of a world-class education system that provides equitable access to quality education and training.
Sheikh Mansour bin Jassim bin Thani al Thani, chairman of the Kings College, one of the schools that won the bids, praised the initiative.
He said it will effectively contribute to boosting the education sector in the country.
"We got the lease for the land at a very nominal rate as part of efforts to support the private sector. Education sector is a very important and vital sector in the country and we as investors got enough support from the government which motivated us to enter this field," he added.
The move will help in increasing seats from 400 to 900 in the meantime, which will reach up to 1,300 seats by the end of this project in the 137-year-old British-curriculum school.
Director of the Department of Common Services at the Ministry of Education and Higher Education Mohammed Al Hajri said the ministry is committed to the promotion of private education by implementing the strategic plan for the period 2017-2022, which has one major result - the construction of a world-class education system that provides equitable access to quality education and training.
