Qatari education minister reviews achievements, challenges of education

HE Minister of Education and Higher Education and Secretary General of the Supreme Education Council (SEC) Dr. Mohammed bin Abdul Wahid Al Hammadi lauded the care and great interest attached by HH Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani for the educational process in Qatar. HE the Minister added that based on HH the Emir’s sharp vision, we will overcome the challenges that facing the educational process and achieve aspirations and hopes.
Speaking at a press conference on the occasion of the beginning of the new academic year 2014/2015 today at the SEC headquarters, HE the Minister Dr. al Hamadi also lauded directives of HE Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa and president of the SEC.
We hope that the new academic year will witness full of seriousness , discipline and achievement of the best results on the local and international levels , al Hammadi said.
   He said that if we aspire to live up performance level of our sons and daughters in the educational process, we should start with discipline before education , stressing that the education includes behavior and commitment to duties and responsibilities in the field of learning.
Al Hammadi said that last year we had issued student conduct code and Code of Professional Conduct for Teachers so as to give the professional educators powers to deal firmly with disciplinary infractions in order to restore prestige and respect for school, saying the phenomenon of the students’ absence in many seasons and periods is unacceptable and undoubtedly would have a significant impact on their results, attributing to the awareness of the parents of the students and their understanding on the role of the school and the risk of the absence of their children on their educational results.
He said we started the new academic year 2014/2015 by issuing the code of professional conduct for teachers which enhance the key values that must be shown by the teachers and those who are working in the education field and most of important of which are honesty, impartiality, objectivity ,diligence and efficiency.
HE the Minister congratulated teachers who have succeeded in achieving high results a matter which confirmed the safety of the education system in Qatar and its ability to produce excellent elements to play a distinctive role in the community.
The Minister of Education noted that during the new academic year we seek to enhance skills of reading, writing and arithmetic in the early education and to raise performance of the students in national, international tests and preparing them for higher education according to the needs of the state as well as to expand scholarships for students and to launch an online portal for student scholarship .
“We will continue to exert efforts to set up a national center for developing educational leaders and teachers and to apply a new system to evaluate performance of principals and review of the evaluation of teachers” , he added.
The minister noted that we seek to draw up a national development strategy and review Qatar National Curriculum , which is based on our identity, our culture and our values and ensure the quality of the educational process in accordance with the national framework. He said in coordination with the Ministry of Municipality and Urban Planning we started to expand in the establishment of independent and private schools in light of the needs of the state and the population density.
”We work to strengthen partnerships in the educational process with existing local community institutions , regional , international institutions and adopt effective strategies to communicate with the community to create a public opinion and a positive behavior pattern about the education system in the country,” Dr. Al Hammadi added.
The minister also highlighted the State interest in developing the vocational education in order to meet the needs of the labor market of national cadres, citing in this regard professional disciplines in a number of educational institutions such as the Community College of Qatar (CCQ), which is being developed for granting bachelor’s degree , College of the North Atlantic , University of Calgary and Qatar banking , Qatar for Banking Science, Business Administration school and Qatar independent technical school.