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ISO 9001:2008 CERTIFIED NEWSPAPER Huge response Ekdal scores to Back 2 hat-trick as Cagliari Business stun 10-man Inter Business | 18 Sport | 26 Monday 29 September 2014 • 5 Dhu’l-Hijja 1435 • Volume 19 Number 6203 www.thepeninsulaqatar.com [email protected] | [email protected] Editorial: 4455 7741 | Advertising: 4455 7837 / 4455 7780 SEC to crack Qatar win gold down on erring schools Parents complain about high fees DOHA: Qatar’s school regula- visits and issuing warnings to the tor is mulling setting up a task schools. force to crack down on private If the school takes remedial schools to follow up on public action within the specified time, complaints about high fees and it would be spared. Otherwise, poor quality of education. action would follow, the source Erring schools will be issued added. warnings and if they fail to com- According to local Arabic daily ply with rules within a specified Al Watan, the SEC is now adopt- period, they will be blacklisted. ing a very tough stance towards Private schools have become a private schools and has recently lucrative business in Qatar due to closed down the primary sec- their low numbers. The country’s tion of a school after it failed to population has been exploding mend its ways even after a stern making the demand for schools warning. rise rapidly. The daily said that the warning Qatar’s gold medallists Al Thani A Ali Khalid, Faleh Suwayed B S Alajami, Ali Yousuf A S Alrumaihi, Mubarak Yousuf Alrumaihi and Basem Hasan S The private schools office at was issued by the SEC sometime Mohammed celebrate during the medal ceremony of the equestrian jumping event at the 2014 Asian Games at the Dream Park Equestrian Venue in the Supreme Education Council ago to the school to comply with Incheon yesterday. Qatar’s Femi Seun Ogunode also won the gold in the 100-metre sprint on the same day. See also pages 27 & 28. (SEC) says complaints are rules and regulations in the new aplenty from parents and guard- academic year but it didn’t. ians of students against a number The SEC source, meanwhile, of private schools. told Al Sharq that there are strict “We are studying those com- directives from the Minister of plaints and we will soon be taking Education and Higher Education CMC elections in May next year decisions about the line of action about action to be sought against to be taken,” a source at the SEC erring private schools. DOHA: Elections to the fifth Department at the Ministry of constituencies of the CMC were perceptions of its future. Second, told Al Sharq. “Our inspectors keep track of term of the 29-member Central Interior, Brigadier Salim Saqar demarcated in 1998. He said that taking into account the nature of The complaints are mostly private schools. They make fre- Municipal Council (CMC) Al Merikhi, who is also the massive urban development since the representation in the Council about fees being high, lack of quent visits, but there is a possi- will be held in May next year. chairman of the working group, then had changed the demogra- so that it would reflect the dif- qualified teachers and facilities bility a crack team might be made The body, which has a four- addressed a press conference phy in many constituencies. ferent towns and villages in dif- and the quality of education. to follow up on specific complaints year term, was first elected in yesterday. Other members of Keeping in view the popula- ferent regions. Third, taking into Some private schools continue against private schools,” said the early 1999. the working group are Assistant tion of Qataris in the changed account the social constitution of to manage with assistant teachers source. Senior Interior Ministry offi- Director of General Directorate scenario, the constituencies have the constituencies. for months on end as they fail to Private schools include commu- cials told reporters yesterday that of Information System at the been recently demarcated. New The CMC law stipulates that recruit qualified and experienced nity as well as international and voters need to register afresh. The Ministry, Brigadier Abdul urban areas have sprung up the Council shall be directly teachers. embassy schools. old voter list is being cancelled. Rahman Al Maliki, Director of and they needed to be brought elected in accordance with a sys- The source said that one of The SEC source said that many For registration, eligible voters Public Relations Department within the purview of the CMC tem for which a decree is issued. the steps the SEC could take is private schools have already should produce their ID card in Colonel Abdullah Khalifa Al constituencies. The Committee has sought form a task force whose members been given grace periods to take person at the registration office Muftah and Captain Mubarak The Interior Ministry had help from the Ministry of would be making surprise visits to remedial action and comply with to be set up in all constituencies. Ali Majid from the Election formed a committee to study the Municipality and Urban Planning schools against which complaints regulations. A Ministry of Interior working Department of the Ministry. constituencies. This study was and the Ministry of Development are made. Action will be taken against group has been set up to make The preparations for the elec- based on three principles — the Planning and Statistics for the Members of the crack team them once the grace period is preparations for the election. tions will start in January. first of which was changing of the demarcation of the CMC wards. or task force would be verifying over, said the source. Members of the group includ- Brigadier Salim Saqr Al constituencies according to the THE PENINSULA these complaints during their THE PENINSULA ing the Director of Legal Affairs Merikhi said that the 29 Qatari population and density and Picture on page 4 Timely rescue US underestimated IS threat: Obama Franchise fee for taxi firms cut WASHINGTON: President DOHA: With a steady increase in the number will come into force from October 1 for a period of Barack Obama admitted yes- of taxis operated by private companies in Qatar, five years. terday that the United States the Ministry of Transport has announced a series This decision has been taken “because this sector had underestimated the oppor- of measures to support their services including a is playing key role and working for public interest,” tunity that a collapsing Syria major reduction in franchise fees. said the statement. would provide for jihadist mili- Currently there are three private companies oper- As an additional incentive, the ministry in col- tants to regroup and stage a ating taxis based on a franchise agreement with laboration with the Ministry of Municipality and sudden comeback. public transport company Mowasalat and a fourth Urban Planning will allot land to the private taxi Speaking to CBS News, the company is expected to launch their service very operators so that they can use it for their operations, president said that former soon. Together they operate more than 1,500 taxis to accommodate their staff and related purposes. Al Qaeda fighters driven from that are bigger in number compared to the Karwa The taxis operated by private companies have also Iraq by US and local forces had taxis operated by Mowalalat. been allowed to share the taxi ranks and parking been able to gather in Syria to The Minister of Transport H E Jassim bin Seif areas exclusively allotted for Karwa taxis in different form the newly dangerous Islamic Ahmed Al Sulaiti has issued a decision reducing the parts of the country. Mowaslat is already working on State group. A US-led coalition monthly fees that these companies are paying to a project to set up unified call center for all the taxis. of Arab and Western allies have Mowasalat (Karwa) by 33 per cent. This reduction THE PENINSULA begun an air campaign to counter the group, hitting targets in Iraq and Syria, which Obama called “ground zero for jihadists around the world.” See also page 6 French rightists Yemen hospital attack kills 15 SANAA: A suicide bomber They have since refused to quit Al Jafra hospital, which had been lead in Senate linked to Al Qaeda drove a car the capital, despite an agreement turned by the Houthis into a base PARIS: Just three years after laden with explosives into a hos- they signed with President Abd for their operations in the area. France’s Senate made history pital used as a base by Yemen’s Rabbu Mansour Hadi to make Local tribesmen said at least 15 with its first ever swing to the Shia Muslim Houthi movement them a part of the government. people were killed in the attack left, the right clawed back a yesterday, killing at least 15 “Dozens of dead and wounded and more than 50 were wounded. majority yesterday in a new people, various sources said. from the rejectionist Houthis in a There was no immediate word setback for Socialist President They attack took place in the martyrdom operation by Ansar Al from the Houthi, who are named Francois Hollande. The conserv- town of Majzar in Maarib prov- Sharia using a booby-trapped car after the tribe of their leader and ative UMP party of Hollande’s ince, east of the capital Sanaa, in Maarib,” the militant group, founder. Ansar Al Sharia had predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy A Japanese helicopter lifting a person rescued on Mount Ontake, militant, tribal and local sources which is the local branch of Al previously carried out numer- and its allies from the centrist between Gifu and Nagano prefectures, in central Japan, yesterday.

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