His Highness the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani's speech to citizens and residents on July 21 has inspired the Ministry of Education and Higher Education’s priorities for the new academic year, HE the Minister Dr Mohamed Abdul Wahed Ali al-Hammadi has said.

“His Highness the Emir outlined a roadmap for future options and how to deal with the challenges posed by the current circumstances,” he recalled at a press conference on Sunday marking the start of the academic year 2017/2018.
“His Highness the Emir called for the development of the educational, research and information institutions, and for diligence, creativity, independent thinking, constructive initiatives, attention to the academic achievement in all specialties, self-reliance and fighting laziness and dependency, along with other values that consists the bases of Qatar’s educational system and the pillars of its national vision.
“The ministry's priorities for this year are to continue the development of human and knowledge capital by providing students with the necessary competencies for each stage of study, in addition to a comprehensive review of the curricula in order to consolidate national identity and reflect the national needs of the current stage and the vision of the future state.
“The priorities also include promoting attention to early childhood by reviewing curricula, rehabilitating teachers and reviewing their governance for their huge impact on subsequent school levels, as well as meeting the growing demand for public education through the implementation of a plan to increase the number of public schools and support the private sector to provide a variety and high quality education opportunities.”
Dr al-Hammadi also highlighted the ministry's attention to the quality and outputs of higher education, especially in science, technology, engineering and mathematics for the knowledge economy. He called upon the students to pay attention to their education and work on improving it, raise the ceiling of their ambitions, and set academic goals and work towards achieving them.
In his message to school principals, the minister said that the professional and inspirational school leadership should be able to play a fundamental role in improving school performance, success of educational development and achieving its goals and objectives.

He stressed the importance of absorbing the latest changes and trends in the educational process to develop a new vision for schools that attracts both students and teachers to make them creative and inspiring places for teaching and learning, so that the education system in Qatar follows the global race in the development of a workforce possessing high quality knowledge and skills, and meet the requirements of the labour market and the national development priorities.
In this context, HE the Minister of Education called for setting goals scientifically, setting expectations, managing resources effectively, establishing national identity, focusing on best professional, ethical and behavioural practices, and establishing effective partnerships with all parties to the educational process, with paying attention to the academic achievement as the strategic goal.

Schools must provide extracurricular activities to meet the physical, psychological, social, health and scientific needs of the students, which improve their academic performance, develop their social skills and increase their confidence.
Addressing the teachers, Dr al-Hammadi said that students have different abilities, which emphasises the need to identify their characteristics, knowledge, abilities, tendencies, levels of thinking, and preferred patterns of learning, in order to adopt appropriate strategies to meet their individual differences, especially the gifted ones.

“The distinguished teacher is the one who prepares and brings out distinguished generations that are proud of themselves, their homeland, their religion, their values and their cultural and civilisational heritage, especially since education is a comprehensive and integrated process that elevates the student from all sides.”

The education minister highlighted the important role of the parents as one of the most effective ways to increase the academic achievement of students, improve their social and behavioural levels, and enhance their learning speed and motivation, especially their attendance in school and encouraging them to achieve higher academic degrees and continuing their university education.
He called on parents to strengthen communication with the school and to develop the positive values and attitudes of their children, and help them manage their time and complete their homework, and achieve their aspirations for the future.
Dr al-Hammadi said students from the siege countries studying in Qatar, will remain enrolled in their schools. No action has been taken against them, while Qatari students returning from the siege countries have been accommodated in public or private schools.

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