The Peninsula
Minister of Education and Higher Education, H E Dr. Mohammed bin Abdul Wahed Ali Al Hammadi, yesterday visited the Durham School for Girls Doha, which is preparing to receive its students for the first time in Qatar on Sunday (August 25) at the beginning of the academic year 2019-2020.
The Durham School for Girls, is a private international school, which adopts the British curriculum. It is one of the prestigious English schools for girls in Doha and operates in accordance to the Qatari educational system, values, culture and traditions of the Qatari society.
During the visit, the Minister met with the school principal, teaching staff and administrators.
During the visit the minister listened to a detailed presentation about the curriculum, opportunities and options that will be provided by the school, which has witnessed a high turnout of students and their parents since admissions announced.
The Durham School for Girls is one of the new schools that opened in 2019 as part of the government initiative to allocate government-owned land plots for the construction and operation of private schools through tender.
The initiative is within the framework of the Ministerial Group for the Encouragement and Participation of the Private Sector in the Economic Development Projects of Qatar, chaired by Prime Minister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani.
Meanwhile, Durham School for Girls’ parent school was founded in the UK more than 600 years ago. The school will open its doors to new students this academic year for kindergarten and primary education.
It will begin to open secondary education level starting from 2020, while it will be fully open to all grades by 2022.
The Ministry of Education and Higher Education has been supporting private schools with a number of initiatives to meet the growing demand of school education in the country. In May this year, the Ministry of Education and Higher Education had launched the third phase of land allocation under the BOT system, within the framework of stimulating the participation of the private sector in the economic development projects dedicated to the national curriculum.
In an introductory workshop on the project, Khalid Al Hajri, Director of the General Services Department at the Ministry explained the third phase in a presentation that six plots of land were allocated in the first phase and three others were allocated in the second phase, while the third phase will include the allocation of two government-owned land lots for the private sector to design, build and operate the buildings as private schools.
