ISO 9001:2008 CERTIFIED NEWSPAPER 1 February 2014 1 Rabial II 1435 - Volume 18 Number 5962 Price: QR2 ON SATURDAY Kerry warns Syria on chemical weapons BERLIN: US Secretary of State John Kerry yesterday warned Syrian President Bashar Al Assad he could face consequences for failing to live up to international agreements on remov- ing his chemical weapons stockpile. “We now know that the Assad regime is not moving as rapidly as it promised to move the chemical weapons out of Syria,” he said. “I would remind Bashar Al Assad that the agreement that we reached in New York with the (UN) Security Council makes it clear that if there are issues of non-compliance, they will be referred to the Security Council for Chapter 7 com- pliance purposes.” See also page 9 Pro-Mursi protests held in Egypt CAIRO: Two roadside bombs exploded near a patrol car in Cairo yesterday, and police fired tear gas at supporters of ousted president Mohamed Mursi in Alexandria. One policeman was slightly wounded when his patrol car was hit by two road- side bombs in a Cairo suburb, the interior ministry said. Police fired tear gas to disperse a pro- Mursi demonstration when the deposed Islamist’s supporters clashed with oppo- nents in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, security officials said. Similar pro-Mursi demonstrations were staged in Cairo, Sharqiya and Fayoum, they said. See also page 9 SCHOOL CRUNCH Cameron in fresh EU referendum push LONDON: British Prime Minister David Cameron pledged yesterday to THE ISSUE force through parliament a bill guaran- teeing an in-or-out referendum on EU membership by the end of 2017, after Expatriate families have been list of 2,800 for enrolment to various grades. estimated to be 40,000 strong, has just one the upper house killed off legislation. “This is almost the strength of the school,” school, which is run by the country’s embassy. He pledged to wield the Parliament growing in number literally by the said a source familiar with the problems the The school is old and has two levels of edu- Act, which enforces the supremacy of the day as immense job opportunities school has been facing. Contacted for com- cation: Basic (from grades 1 to eight), and Design: Abraham Augusthy elected lower House of Commons over the are being created by projects ment, the principal of the school, Dr Ahmed three Secondary grades (nine to 11). appointed upper House of Lords. El Gabbari, confirmed the school had a long “We have immense pressure,” said the prin- The act is only rarely used to over- linked to the FIFA 2022 event, waiting list for enrolment. cipal of the school, Faisal Kambaal. There are come the Lords blocking the will of the but for many of these families Community sources said the school, despite on average 50 students in a class and, accord- Commons. It has only ever been enacted ensuring their children’s schooling the increasing population of Egyptians, many ing to reliable sources, education sector regu- a handful of times since it was introduced of whom are coming over with their families, lator, the Supreme Education Council, ignores in 1911. amid a severe shortage of schools has not been able to expand its infrastructure this flagrant breach of its rules considering the is an uphill task. to cope with growing demand. fact that there is just one school for the entire Israel worried at “The school is the same that it was when Sudanese community. opened in 1989,” said the source. El Gabbari The school has a science stream at the sec- boycott threat he Egyptian community, an esti- would only confirm there has been no ondary level but no laboratory due to scarce mated 70,000 strong, probably faces expansion. space and lack of funds. It has seen hardly any JERUSALEM: Israeli government the worst predicament of all as the The other Egyptian school (it follows expansion due to the above reasons. and business leaders are alarmed by a Ttwo Egyptian schools in Doha can- Egyptian curriculum) is private, and has lim- According to sources, the Sudanese com- growing international boycott move- not take in more than a limited number of ited seats. “We need many more schools for the munity did try to open another school to cater ment and the likely effect of EU meas- students. community,” said the source, bemoaning that to its increasing needs but the effort didn’t ures against exports from Jewish The situation, therefore, is such that hun- no new schools were being set up. bear fruit. settlements in the occupied West Bank. dreds, if not thousands, of Egyptian families The result is that many Egyptian families The average annual fee at the existing school Cabinet ministers are to meet next are forced to teach their children at home. are getting their children tutored at home, is QR8,000 — a sum middle-income Sudanese week to hammer out a strategy against The Egyptian embassy in Doha, at the end while some have succeeded in the past in get- families can easily afford, but enrolment being a growing international campaign to boy- of an academic year, conducts examinations ting their children enrolled in other expatriate a problem, many families look elsewhere to get cott trade linked to settlements, Haaretz for these home-tutored students based on the community schools, including Indian ones. a place for their schoolgoing children. newspaper reported yesterday. grades they have studied for. But now other community schools, facing Many Sudanese students study in other And a group of top Israeli business- There are two Egyptian schools in Qatar. pressure from their own communities, cou- community schools, including Indian schools, people has launched a publicity cam- PAGEOne of them, Egypt 6 Language School, is run by pled with official restrictions, have stopped but enrolling in those schools is difficult these paign urging Prime Minister Benjamin the Egyptian embassy. According to commu- the practice. days. Netanyahu to make peace with the nity sources, the school currently has a waiting The Sudanese community, which is Continued on page 4 Palestinians for the sake of the economy. See also page 8 www.thepeninsulaqatar.com [email protected] | [email protected] Editorial: 4455 7741 | Advertising: 4455 7837 / 4455 7780 FEBRUARY 1, 2014 Home ON SATURDAY 02 www.thepeninsulaqatar.com Soaring population, too few schools Expat parents run from pillar to post to get admission for their children DOHA: The fast-growing expa- triate population of Qatar has increased demand for private schools, leading to long waiting lists for enrolment and a severe space crunch in many existing schools. The situation has forced some community schools to stop enrol- ment even before they started it, while others are exploring the possibility of expansion to meet an expected rush in the next aca- demic year. School sources say that the closure of several kindergar- tens in recent years and a ceil- ing imposed by the Supreme Education Council (SEC) on the number of students allowed in a classroom have boosted demand and, at the same time, reduced the capacity of schools to accom- modate more students. A look at the private schools in the country shows that their growth has not kept pace with the massive increase in the expa- Pics: Salim Matramkot & Shaival Dalal triate population. According to Mesaimeer saying, “admission He said a lasting solution student through the SEC website. data released by the SEC, there closed for all classes.” would be opening of more Indian Asna Nafees, principal of DPS- are 130 private schools in Qatar Several private kindergartens were closed The early announcement has schools. Modern Indian School, which and 70 private kindergartens. shocked many parents, since “We understand that at least recently shifted to new premises These schools have been down in recent years following imposition of Indian schools usually start three new schools will be open- in Al Wakra, said the school had broadly classified into interna- enrolment in March, ahead of ing in the near future,” he added. about 4,500 students and could tional schools, mostly following strict rules by the authorities, which has led their new academic year, which Syed Shoukath Ali, principal of accommodate another 500 in the British or American curricula, to a steady rise in demand for enrolment in begins in April. School principal Ideal Indian School, says there is forthcoming academic year. Arab private schools, and com- A K Srivastava says the prob- hardly any vacancy in the school, “The SEC should either facili- munity schools catering to differ- existing schools, especially in lower classes. lem has not cropped up all of a especially in the higher classes. tate opening of new schools ent expatriate communities. sudden. “We have a few seats in the KG or relax rules related to class The number of international “Several private kindergartens classes but none in the higher strength until the schools find schools has been put at 66 and Asian countries in recent years, crunch. These schools are said were closed down in recent years grades. Just today a parent told alternatives,” said Nafees, adding the remaining 64 are Arab/ the number of schools catering to have reached a “saturation following strict rules imposed by me he would bring his family that “thirty students in a class Asian private/community schools. to this segment of the expatri- point” as far as capacity is con- the authorities, which has led from India only if I assured seats is an ideal number and we are International schools have stu- ate population has not crossed 20, cerned, while recently opened to a steady rise in demand for for his children, but I am totally strictly following it.” dents from many countries, which partly explains the crisis schools have very few seats for admissions in existing schools, helpless,” said Ali.