Students of Olive International School celebrating a victory

The linking private schools’ enrolment process with online registration mechanism of the Ministry of Education and Higher Education has brought more transparency in school admissions within a specified period of time under different curriculum.

The system is part of a number of measures taken by the Ministry of Education and Higher Education in cooperation with private schools to solve the problems of parents seeking admission of their children in a suitable private school.

The registration system of the Ministry also made some schools set priority to the students of their respective nationalities as the system requires approval from the Ministry to enrol students from other nationalities.
Following the instructions of the Ministry, private schools upgraded their systems and they launched portals offering online registration and posting details about the admission including deadline, admission criteria and other latest information in this regard.

The move also helped reduce the suffering of parents who would run from pillar to post for admission of their children earlier. Differences in admission schedule from one school to another also used to create problems for parents that could eventually lead missing one academic year in some cases.

Since private schools operating in Qatar are following different curricula like Indian, British, Pakistani, Sri Lankan etc. which require the schools to abide by the academic years of respective curricula.

The guidelines from the Ministry of Education and Higher Education and portals run by the schools are helpful in providing enough and accurate information to parents regarding admissions deadline.

Detailed answers about the admission process in private schools and existing confusions about it were cleared by the representatives of private schools in a meeting with The Peninsula recently.

The meeting, chaired by Deputy Managing Editor of The Peninsula, Mohammed Osman Ali, was attended by Samir Rai, Administrative Officer at Olive International School; Uzma Ansari, Executive Administrator at The Next Generation (TNG) School; Amna Inam, Executive Administrator at TNG School; Mariam Khan, Registrar at TNG School; Sivapragasam Sivam, Principal and Edward S. Fernando, Administrator at Stafford Sri Lankan School-Doha.

“Last time, the Ministry instructed us to begin registration from March 1 onward,” said Mariam Khan, Registrar at The Next Generation School during the meeting. She said that the school had started taking applications and admission tests earlier but the registration started from March 1 as per the instruction of the Ministry.

“The Ministry has provided an online system for registration which did not allow to enter any data regarding admission before the registration date given by the Ministry,” said Sivapragasam Sivam, Principal of Stafford Sri Lankan School-Doha. “Our admission system requires parents to apply online through our portal which has detailed information about registration process,” said Uzma Ansari, Executive Administrator  at The Next Generation School.

She said that as soon as school get confirmation from the Ministry about the deadline, the parents are called to bring their children for test.

“In Qatar, Indian schools’ session begins in April. We run an academic year from April to March,” said Samir Rai, Administrative Officer at Olive International School.
He said generally registration for admission in Indian schools begins in December.

“Admissions in Stafford Sri Lankan School-Doha normally start in March,” said Edward S. Fernando.

“Session timing of schools are different according to the curriculum. For example two Pakistani schools in Qatar which are simultaneously running British curriculum with Pakistani curriculum are following two different timing sessions; August for British curriculum and March for Pakistani curriculum,” said Mariam Khan.

“We checked with the Ministry of Education and Higher Education about possibility of having Sri Lankan curriculum with British one, they said that you could not have like that because of two calendars and two different methodologies,” said Edward S. Fernando, Administrator of the school. He said that if it is allowed, it will be better for the future of students.

“I believe the parents are confused when they come from other countries they find different types of curricula especially when they see Pakistani schools following British and US curriculum,” said Uzma Ansari. She said that there will be no confusion if the parents follow the guidelines of the Ministry.

“Few parents are facing difficulties due to the fact that usually back in their home countries they follow one curriculum whereas Qatar provides variety of curricula,” said Amna Inam from The Next Generation School.

She said that the admissions process had closed on October 31 for current session (2018-19) but the registration remained opened until January 31 for all curricula for those students who arrived in the country after passage of first deadline.

“The Ministry of Education and Higher Education has provided portal for admission which remains open for specific time. Even if we want to enrol any student beyond that given time, the system rejects the attempt,” said Sivapragasam Sivam, Principal of Stafford Sri Lankan School-Doha.

He said that as per admissions rules set by the Ministry, schools cannot register students after October 31. “For example a student come from Sri Lanka in February so they will have to wait for next session to get the admission,” said Sivam.

Edward S. Fernando said that in Sri Lanka the school academic year ends in December. “So if they shift to Qatar in January expecting to get enrolled in January it is not possible as by that time we have covered quarter of an academic year,” said Fernando.

Samir Rai said that Olive International School posted detailed information about the admissions on the portal of the school including date of registration and availability of seats.

Uzma Ansari said that schools require approval from the Ministry for exceptional cases of admission. “We just got an application from a child who moved Qatar from Dubai. His younger sister got admission as it was approved by the Ministry upon the request of parents.”

She said that the child got admission in class 2 but the parents requested the school and the Ministry to allow the student to repeat class 1. “So the Ministry asked the school to submit another request for this purpose. We submitted the request and are expecting approval within a couple of days,” said Ansari.

Sivapragasam Sivam said that the Ministry asked the schools to follow rules strictly in cases like repeating classes and enrolling after the deadline of admissions. “In such cases, we approach the Ministry seeking approval otherwise we get warning from the Ministry,” said Sivam.

The Ministry held a workshop to introduce an online system to schools for better communication with parents. The school received user names and passwords and the system partially started operation. However, schools have their own online systems to receive the application from parents seeking admission and communicate with them.

Uzam Ansari said that as per registration process of TNG School, the candidate should apply online first as paper application forms are no more acceptable. “We use OpenSees software for admission process and a mobile application to communicate with parents and send homework through it if student could not attend classes during leave.”

Credit: Sanaullah Ataullah | The Peninsula

Date – Time: 14 Feb 2019 – 10:02

Source URL:https://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/article/14/02/2019/Admissions-in-private-school-streamlined-through-online-registration,-enrolment