QNA
Doha
All students, parents, teaching staff and partners of education are fervently anticipating the start of the new academic year 2024-2025, on Sunday, September 1, 2024, with confidence and optimism about a year full of goodness and blessings that resembles previous years which were strikingly replete with giving, dedications, academic achievements and excellence.
Those years were also full of stimulating atmosphere that helped students gain higher academic degrees culminating in prestigious outputs that are capable of either competing in labor market or enrolling into the most prestigious universities at home and abroad, after the Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MoEHE) has finalized preparations to commence the new academic year.
Administrative and teaching staff have proactively embarked upon essential preparations before the students head back to universities, such as welcoming students, distributing school timetables, books, stationery, and student lists to the classes, in addition to implementing school policies, and regulations from the first school day.
The staff are seriously committed to improving students’ academic achievement as a strategic goal of the ministry.
Speaking to Qatar News Agency, Director of the Department of Schools and Student Affairs of the MoEHE, Mariam Al Nisf Al Buainain, said the ministry is ready to welcome the students after it has finalized all preparations to commence the new academic year next Sunday.
She affirmed that the ministry is steadfastly committed to offering a high quality educational atmosphere through advancing all fundamental components of education, including the pedagogical cadres, infrastructure and educational sources in coordination with relevant bodies to ensure the accomplishment of all preparations.
Al Buainain highlighted that over 131,000 male and female students will head to their class seats in 215 schools and 64 public kindergartens, among them are 70 integration schools, as well as 7 Al-Hidaya Special Needs Schools, underlining that the ministry is fully prepared to welcome them. She said the educational system comprises private schools that offer professional technical skills that would supply the Qatari community with high talented students on whom the society can draw to advance the development process Qatar is witnessing.
In addition, Al Buainain pointed out that the registration of students in public schools and kindergarten has been resumed via ‘Maarif’ portal that serves the public on the MOEHE website, calling on all student parents to capitalize on this online service to register their sons and daughters and fill out all required forms.
The MoEHE is highly committed to enhancing the life quality of students and to that end, it embarks upon launching a multitude of projects that primarily aim to polish students’ cultural and social skills to be armed with skills of the 21st century, Al Buainain underlined.
She affirmed that these carefully polished skills will help them succeed in their educational and career life, as the ministry strives to forge close partnership with parents, in pursuit of achieving an educational atmosphere that abounds with support and cooperation.
The new year preparations comprise a plethora of themes and initiatives and educational curricula as declared by the ministry starting from the new year 2024-2025.
This comes in alignment with the third National Development Strategy 2024-2030. Additionally, the announcement of these updates is part of the ministry’s unwavering efforts to strike a balance between academic achievements and upgrading personal and psychosocial capabilities of students.
These updates are entangled with all academic classes such as kindergarten, secondary schools with a special emphasis on skills of the 21st century, such as digital competency, emotional intelligence and critical thinking, along with academic skills that essentially help advance students capabilities to be further applied in their daily life, in addition to keeping pace with best global practices in education and enhancing students’ physical and psychological health.
The updates in curricula comprise adjustments to some educational aspects, such as devoting free reading to kindergarten pupils in their early age and surge the span of sport activities, while in elementary schools the students’ capabilities will be enhanced in terms of linguistic and technical aspects. Moreover, in preparatory schools the students will overwhelmingly focus on reading and writing the Arabic language, in addition to including subjects that would meet their proclivities.
In the preparatory stage, teaching hours on Wednesday will be extended to match the rest of the week, so that the school day will continue until 1:30 PM, except on Thursday, which will end at 12:40 PM. This allows additional time to develop students’ skills and stimulate their creativity, while aligning with Qatar’s aspirations to enhance its educational system and improve its quality.
In the secondary stage, the school day will be extended until 1:30 PM throughout the week to enhance students’ academic and practical skills, preparing them for success in their professional lives and for university education.
The ministry is currently organizing the Back-to-School campaign in collaboration with Mowasalat (Karwa) and Msheireb Properties. The campaign aims to remind and emphasize the importance of mental and emotional readiness for school, and to energize students to attend regularly and with enthusiasm from the first day. This will be achieved through various scientific, educational, interactive activities, as well as awareness workshops and purposeful sports events.
The arrangements included preparing the school environment, ensuring the school capacity, transportation and maintenance, canteen catering services tenders 2024, and follow-up plans on safety procedures in emergency situations.
They also included filling vacancies by appointing many teachers according to high standards, in terms of academic qualifications and practical experience, including graduates of the “Tamooh” program implemented by the Ministry in cooperation with Qatar University’s College of Education.
Several new specialized schools will be opened and many workshops and introductory, awareness and educational meetings will be held over the course of the year.
The MoEHE has provided those who have succeeded in high school and other targeted groups with distinguished educational opportunities for Qatari students within the government scholarship plan for the academic year 2024-2025. The plan includes three main programs: the Amiri Scholarship Program, the Internal Scholarship, and the External Scholarship, all of which aim to meet their needs at various academic levels and enhance their educational opportunities in various specializations inside and outside the State of Qatar.
In remarks to QNA, Acting Assistant Undersecretary for Higher Education Affairs, Dr. Hareb Mohammed Al Jabri, said the new government scholarship plan for the academic year 2024/2025 would offer 1,500 scholarships up from 700 the previous year. This is driven by an increase of educational tracks from three to eight tracks in a bid to meet all the Qatari labor market needs.
The preparations for the new academic year are being made in cooperation and coordination between the MOEHE and the Ministry of Interior, to ensure the safety and security of students and smooth traffic flow. They extended to include libraries, which provided various types of stationery, bags and school supplies.
These early preparations confirm the great interest the state gives to education as the main important incubator for building the nation in line with Qatar National Vision 2030.
