Three schools to participate in first phase of Voucher program

The Supreme Education Council today announced that three private schools - Qatar Academy, The International School of London and The Michael E. DeBakey High School for Health Professional – will participate in the first phase of the educational voucher program.

"The voucher program aims to increase variety and choice of quality schooling options for parents and students in Qatar," said Sabah Al-Haidoos, Director, Education Institute. “The participation of these three high-quality schools in the first phase of the voucher program will allow us to determine the best way to administer the program.”

The schools were selected based on stringent selection criteria set by the SEC including teaching an internationally recognized standards based curriculum and meeting basic requirements in relation to the teaching Arabic, Islamic Studies, Qatari history and Citizenship, and provide English language needs to Qatari students whose first language is not English. There are also additional criteria for school quality assurance in relation to accreditation, and teacher qualifications and standards.

The new program is being implemented in several phases with the pilot phase beginning on September 1, 2008. This phase will test the mechanisms and administration procedures of the educational vouchers for eligible students. Consequent phases will see expansion of the educational voucher to include more private schools that meet high standards of excellence.

Over time, parents will able to use educational vouchers to enroll their children in any school of their choice, either Independent or private. Ultimately, all students eligible for government funded education are expected to be eligible to receive an educational voucher.

This initiative follows the principles that guide the current education system. Schools will remain autonomous, be held accountable for students learning and a variety of schooling options will, over time, allow parents to exercise levels of choice in selecting the schools that best suit their children’s needs.