After a long break of summer vacations, schools are opening today across the country with the start of new academic year also. The students will be resuming their classes under a safe environment thanks to preparations made by the authorities concerned.
Over 350,000 students in public/private schools and kindergartens are returning to school. For the safety of all as COVID-19 pandemic is still not fully over and many families also returned from summer vacations abroad, students and staffers will undergo COVID-19 rapid antigen tests.
Recently, Minister of Education and Higher Education H E Buthaina bint Ali Al Jabr Al Nuaimi also announced four main axis for the development of the educational system in Qatar over the next eight years, in implementation of Qatar National Vision 2030. To accommodate growing number of students during new academic year, the Ministry of Education and Higher Education has also opened five new preparatory and secondary schools for boys and girls in different parts of the country.
The ministry also concluded yesterday the ‘Back to School’ campaign, launched on August 13 under the slogan “With Education, We Build Qatar”. The campaign targeted all school children and included a variety of educational and entertaining activities, as well as awareness on health and safety, general advice and instructions in schools, instructions for riding the school bus safely, and adherence to the instructions and etiquette of sitting. Undersecretary of the Ministry of Education and Higher Education Dr. Ibrahim bin Saleh Al Nuaimi, in video message, hoped that this year will be full of achievement in term of the academic performance of students for all grades.
“This year will be special in a way that Qatar is going to host mega sporting event, 2022 FIFA World Cup in which a group of employees, teachers and students will be participating as volunteers,” said Al Nuaimi. He also said that the Ministry will hire qualified teachers from Qatari citizens and national of other countries and they will be provided different options for professional development.
Along the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, other state entities have also made arrangements for students. Mowasalat will provide, with the beginning of the new school year, school buses with the highest safety standards that conform to standard specifications and the latest technologies.
All these arrangements and preparations made by state institutions will facilitate children to concentrate on their studies under safe environment to advance country’s development agenda.
