Seat shortage at schools partially solved

The government's decision to allow the opening of new schools has partially solved the problem of shortage of seats for new students this academic year.

These schools have eased the nerves of jittery parents seeking admission for their children to primary classes. However, those looking for higher classes are keeping their fingers crossed as they are still waiting for admissions.

"We have opened 22 new schools this year, but still there is demand for seats," Fawziya Abdulaziz Al Khather, Director, Education Institute, Supreme Education Council (SEC), told a press conference on Wednesday.

Ongoing development and infrastructure projects in Qatar have led to a high influx of expatriates, pushing up demand for more schools for their children.

The number of students in schools has reached over 243,000, up more than 51,000 since 2013 or more than 25 percent. There are 178 Independent and 154 private schools, including international, Arabic, community and embassy schools.

"With new schools opening this year, there is no shortage of seats for students at primary level," said A P Sasidharan, Principal, MES Indian School. "However the problem (of shortage of seats) in higher classes is likely to persist this year as most new schools have classes from KG to third standard," he said.

This has come as good news for parents seeking admissions to primary classes. However, students looking for admissions to higher classes have nothing to cheer.

"The new session is about to start but we are still waiting for admission for our son to the fourth standard. I have tried all schools but they say there is no vacancy," said an Indian expatriate.

Parents attribute the shortage of seats to the SEC's new directive that no class can have more than 30 students as part of its efforts to further enhance the quality of education.

But the new regulation has put pressure on schools which were having over 30 students in a class. It also bars new expatriates from seeking admissions at existing schools, creating huge demand for new schools.

The SEC has also put a cap on the number of students a school can have. Some schools have more students than the ceiling and sought permission to build new premises to shift additional students to new campuses. The cap is based on criteria, including area and facilities in schools.

"We are planning to build another site and are waiting for the SEC's approval. Once we have it, we will start construction and shift excess students to the new premises," said Sasidharan.

Another reason behind the shortage of seats is many parents are unwilling to enrol their children in new schools and opting for existing schools, which has led to a pile-up of applications.

They claim that new schools are charging more fees than the existing ones and do not have a proven track record in Qatar.

The Peninsula