DOHA: More than 307,000 students will return to school on Wednesday, after the Ministry of Education and Higher Education completed its preparation for the new academic year 2018-2019.

The preparations involved ensuring the school classes will take up the new number of students, that transportation is available, and that the food products offered in the school cafeterias are in line with regulations. Teaching staff will begin their work today to prepare for the first day of school and the new semester in general.

The Ministry also signed a total of 711 teachers, bringing the total in government schools to 13,440, compared to 13,591 in private schools. The Ministry added a total of 5,065 seats, by opening new schools in preparation for the new academic year.

The Ministry also distributed a total of 2,117 buses to different schools, each in according to its location. The ministry also coordinated with the traffic department to ensure the safety of the buses, transportation, and schools in general.

The Ministry will continue implementing its strategy 2017-2022, which aims to transform the economy to a world-class level to help realize Qatar National Vision 2030, while maintaining the culture and traditions of the Qatari society.

As part of the strategy, the Ministry will continue to hold workshops and projects to improve the quality of education. One of those programmes focuses on raising the quality of early education, another is to better link education to the labour market. There are also programmes to monitor and improve the skills of educators and school staff.

The Ministry is working on developing the human and knowledge capital in the different educational stages. The Ministry is also working on increasing the number of students enrolled in programs that serve the knowledge economy, increase number of enrolled students with scholarships on bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate levels to meet the needs of the job market and the national development priorities.

The Ministry is focusing on preserving national identity through promoting values of loyalty and belonging and planting them in the youth. In addition to promoting community partnership in education and further develop technical and vocational education and training to serve the country’s progress directive and other topics of priority.

Currently, there are 24 higher education entities in Qatar which includes universities, colleges, world-renowned institutes in terms of academic and research programs.

These entities provide different scientific and literary disciplines, offering bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate, where international students are enrolled in, proving that Qatar has succeeded in localising education and knowledge and has become an academic attraction due to its international reputation of political, economic and social stability as well as wealth and culture diversity.

The State of Qatar is always keen to invest in education which promotes its human and knowledge capital.

It also invests in sustainable development efforts in all its economic, social, environmental and cultural forms, resulting in achieving its national vision.

Under-secretary of the Ministry of Education and Higher Education H E Dr Ibrahim bin Saleh Al Nuaimi had recently directed the Ministry’s partners in education such as students, principals, parents and teachers to cooperate and enhance academic achievement between students.

Al Nuaimi urged them to develop the culture of planning, work and achievement in the educational environment by introducing innovative administrative means leading to strong professional communities.

He also urged teaches to be role models in their behavior as well as teach the students effectively and creatively, meeting their individual differences. In addition he urged them to manage classrooms efficiently and professionally and turn them into an interactive and lively education environment.

Al Nuaimi also called on students to take advantage of the opportunities and academic options provided by the wise leadership such as the facilitating academic achievements in all stages and from the best universities around the world.

He also highlighted the importance of partnering with parents which has been proven through educational research that it is one of the most successful means to increase academic achievements between students and improves their social and behavioral skills.

He added that students whose parents participate in their education learn faster, become more motivated to attend school and score higher grades. They also establish unique social and behavioral skills and graduate with higher grades than their peers whose parents do not engage in their education.

Al Nuaimi urged parents to create an environment that promotes partnership with the school and meets the needs of their children, teach them and help them with time management and solving their homework. He also urged parents to achieve their children’s future aspirations and invest in their education as it is an investment in building the nation. He also urged parents to partner with all the educational parties and develop innovative mechanisms for direct communication between them.

Preparations for the start of the new school year are not limited to the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, it has also extended to stationary shops, where parents bought the needs for the new academic year of 2018/2019. The ministry’s preparations for the new season reflects the commitment of the country’s leadership to education, as it is an important factor in realizing Qatar National Vision 2030 and particularly its human capital component.

The ministry will also introduce a number of extracurricular activities to help students gain many skills that are beyond the scope of a classroom. The integration of technology and the requirements of the digital economy is also something the ministry is very keen on promoting.

The Ministry of Education and Higher Educations said that they Qatarized 80 percent of the upper and middle-income jobs, as part of its plans to develop national cadres that can lead the educational process. The goals of the educational process according to the ministry remains to build up the skills of students in line with the requirements of the modern age, while helping them maintain the Qatari traditions and culture.

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