Dr. Mohammed bin Abdul Wahed Al Hammadi, Minister of Education and Higher Education at the Opening of Qatar population day conference in fourseason yesterday. Pic: Abdul Basit
Doha: To cope with the growing population in the country, the Ministry of Education and Higher Education has set a plan to open 99 government schools by 2030 and to encourage investors to establish more private schools, Minister of Education and Higher Education H E Dr Mohammed bin Abdulwahed Al Hammadi said yesterday.
The country has now a total of 535 government and private schools that have enrolled over 327,566 students in the three levels of education- primary, preparatory and secondary.
He was speaking at an event at Four Seasons hotel yesterday that marked the 8th Qatar Population Day 2016. The minister said that there are 191 Independent schools with a total of 100,319 students on their rolls and 12,940 teachers, besides 72 kindergartens having 7,730 students and 1,750 teachers.
In light of the rapid population growth, the Minister of Education and Higher Education is encouraging Qatari investors to open more private schools in the country, said the minister.
Currently there are 245 private schools and having a total of 172,247 students.
They include 85 kindergartens and 12 new schools opened this year, providing 10,380 additional seats. These schools follow more than 23 curricula of varying nature, said the minister.
Al Hammadi said that while laying down education policies and training programmes, the ministry takes into account factors related to demography such as population growth, number of people, age structure, geographical distribution, movement of people from place to another, health, among others.
Based on estimates about the number of students entering education every year, the ministry has set a plan to open 53 new government schools at all levels by 2020, with a total capacity of 33,000 students.
The strategy also includes opening an additional 46 schools by 2030 that can offer a total of 28,000 seats, said the minister.
In order to prepare the human capital required for implementing the Qatar National Vision 2030, the ministry has provided the Community Collage with all the necessary facilities to increase its capacity up to 4,000 students, said the minister.
In line with its annual policy, the ministry opened this year two Independent primary schools in areas with a high population density, moved three schools to new premises and provided seven new buildings for kindergartens in different areas.
The ministry upgraded three preparatory schools to secondary level and one primary school to preparatory level.
The population action programme 2017-2020 includes goals to improve quality of education and training of youth to enhance their participation in the sustainable development plan, said the minister.
There are more than 2400 students currently benefiting from the scholarships provided by the ministry and studying in different disciplines to obtain Bachelor, Masters and PhD degrees, he added.
The Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics marked Qatar Population Day 2016, during a ceremony organized by Permanent Population Committee of the ministry under the title: general features of the work program of the population policy of the State of Qatar (2017-2022).
The Minister of Development Planning and Statistics HE Dr. Saleh bin Mohammed Al Nabit, who is also the Chairman of the Permanent Population Committee opened the ceremony. The Qatar Population Day aims to focus attention on the issues of population, and raise awareness on these issues in the context of overall development plans and programs, in particular the Qatar National Vision 2030 and the National Development Strategy.
