DOHA: The educational voucher programme of the Supreme Education Council (SEC) is not likely to cause a rise in tuition fees of private schools, a senior SEC official has said.
The vouchers enable Qatari students to pursue education in selected private schools with state support. Qatari students can now seek admission in 32 private schools under the programme and some citizens have expressed fears that some of these schools would try to increase their fees, cashing on the high demand for admissions.
“We don’t think the educational vouchers will lead to a rise in school fees because the private schools are strictly controlled by the SEC. They will not be allowed to increase the fees without genuine reasons,” Khalid Al Harqan, assistant director of SEC’s Evaluation Institute told Al Sharq. He said SEC has so far issued 743 educational vouchers to citizens, of which 197 were given to SEC employees. Beneficiaries of the remaining vouchers include employees of Independent schools as well as private schools and unemployed Qataris.
He, however, added that SEC does not have data about the number of vouchers issued by the ministries and other government departments to their employees. He said the number of private schools included in the programme is likely to be increased in the coming years.The Peninsula
