File photo of student heading to their school in Qatar.
Doha, Qatar: A major step has been taken towards enhancing the quality and performance of education and training centres across the country.
Director of the Educational Services Centres Department at Ministry of Education and Higher Education Iman Ali Al-Nuaimi outlined the department’s strategic vision to ensure excellence and transparency in educational service delivery.
Speaking to Qatar TV recently, she said that the department has grown significantly, expanding from eight activities to 16 today.
“It now supervises 162 centres across the country, serving as a national reference point for education and training.
“The ministry recently implemented a guideline for evaluating the centres based on performance and ensure high-quality services for students,” said Al-Nuaimi.
“We wanted a transparent, objective system that distinguishes excellent centres from those needing improvement,” Al-Naimi said. “The main goal is to ensure service quality, promote a culture of institutional excellence, and support the development of future skills in society.”
She said that the new evaluation framework is built around five essential standards, which together ensure comprehensive oversight and quality assurance.
“These standards focus on leadership and management, the educational environment, human and financial resources, performance evaluation and measurement, and partnerships with both internal and external stakeholders,” said Al-Nuaimi.
She said that these core standards cover 11 areas of work within the centres and are measured through 29 performance indicators.
“The framework was developed with input from leading national institutions, including Community College of Qatar, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, and Education Above All Foundation, ensuring that it reflects the country’s educational priorities and international best practices,” said Al-Nuaimi.
She said that under the new system, centres are classified into four categories: Excellent, Good, Acceptable, and Weak.
“If a centre receives a weak rating, it is not immediately shut down. Instead, it is given between six and twelve months to address the areas needing improvement.
“If no progress is made during this period, the ministry applies a structured set of disciplinary measures that may lead to temporary closure,” said Al-Nuaimi.
She explained that investors and centre operators have become increasingly aware of the importance of maintaining high standards, noting that most of them are eager to avoid poor ratings and are investing more in improving their services.
A major element of the new system focuses on ensuring the competence and qualifications of teachers.
“All teachers working in the 71 education centres for tuition were personally interviewed by specialised committees from the ministry,” said Al-Nuaimi.
She said that the interviews were designed to verify legal employment status, academic qualifications, teaching strategies, and subject specialisation.
Approved teachers receive an official identification card displaying their name, subject, contract validity, and teaching licence expiry date.
This ensures parents can trust that their children are being taught by qualified professionals in the correct subject areas.
The ministry measures the impact of training and teaching through student outcomes and community feedback.
“This guide and evaluation system reflects the ministry’s commitment to quality and national development,” Al-Naimi said, adding, “Education is not just an academic system-it is a national project built on excellence.”
Educational centres are private institutions distributed across various regions in Qatar. They offer a wide range of educational programmes and training courses.
Among the key specialisations they provide are administrative training, foreign language instruction, tutoring centers, educational training, and computer education.
There are also centres dedicated to the education and training of persons with disabilities, visual arts centres, and mental mathematics centres.
