DOHA: The Supreme Education Council (SEC) is getting tough with private schools violating its regulations related to the contents and pictures in textbooks and other educational resources.

The SEC recently issued a strict warning to a private school for using science books containing pictures, which it said, did not conform to the cultural and religious values of the country.

The school has been warned of cancellation of its licence if it fails to remove the pictures or replace the textbook.

Another two schools have also been issued similar warnings for violating the SEC rules.

The violation in question was detected during an inspection tour to the school by the SEC team.

Since the beginning of the new academic year, the SEC inspectors have been visiting all private schools to evaluate their performance and ensure compliance with the rules and regulations.

The SEC last year had issued instructions to all private schools to ensure that they don’t teach anything that goes against the values and traditions of the country nor use any objectionable pictures or images in the textbooks.

In a related incident, reported by Al Sharq yesterday, parents of a private school have complained of the school teaching science books with nude pictures of men and women. The books were prescribed for children in the preparatory level, said the report.

The daily quoted a parent as saying he was shocked to see “erotic” pictures in his child’s science book. He called on the SEC to intervene and take immediate action against the school.

The SEC has also urged the parents with children in private schools to check if their school had started teaching Arabic, Islamic Studies and Qatar History.

As per SEC rules, all private schools are required to teach Qatar History, while all schools with Qatari students on their rolls must include Arabic and Islamic History in their curricula beginning this academic year. Textbooks for these subjects are ready and the parents have been asked to collect them from the respective schools without any delay.

The SEC has also issued warnings to several private schools that have collected tuition fees from students without approval from the SEC. These schools have been asked to refund the fees.

Recently the Council had terminated the licence of a private school for failing to meet the safety requirements for school buildings.

The SEC has urged all the parents to report its office any violation of the rules by private schools. Parents can lodge their complaints through the hotline No.155.

THE PENINSULA