Education in Qatar

Qatar's aim is to equip its citizens with the skills and knowledge to provide strong competitive growth in the global environment. It is becomming an education-hub for the Middle east and beyond through statefunded initiatives to reform its internal educational system combined with incentives to attract top calibre international institutions to the country. Qatar therefore provides a wide choice of educational facilities from nursery to post-graduate level in both the public and private sectors.

Primary and Secondary Education

Schools

The number of schools in Qatar for the 2008/09 academic year totalled 299 with student numbers of 151,050 children. The public sector comprised 118 Ministry of Education Schools and 70 independent schools, while the private sector had 77 international and community schools and 34 private Arabic schools.

The School Report Card 2008/2009

This card, issued for the first time by the Supreme Education Council's Office of School Evaluation, covers 251 schools in both the public and private sectors. It includes comprehensive statistics in English on aspects of school life 'to help parents and the community generally become more informed about, and thus subsequently more involved with, Qatar’s schools. Ultimately, this will allow them to make better decisions about their children’s schools and schooling, enabling them to exercise informed choices as well as a comparison with the average for other schools in Qatar'. The School Report Card can be viewed at www.english.education.gov.qa.

The Public Sector

Qatar has invested heavily in education as part of the National Vision 2030 initiative. A significant development has been spending per capita, which increased from QR248 in 2004 to jump to more than QR13,000 in 2008.

The Supreme Education Council (SEC)

Established by Emiri decree No. 37 in November 2002) the SEC directs the nation's education policy. Along with its three institutes, it oversees education reform, helps it grow, and objectively monitors its progress. Membership in the Council is drawn from Qatar’s top leaders in government, business, and academia.