CLAIMS that the Education Ministry was favouring certain private schools with benefits have been denied.
Education Minister Dr Majid Al Nuaimi told MPs during parliament’s weekly session yesterday that it was his duty to formulate a general plan for education, covering both government and private schools.
He pointed out that the number of government school teachers sent on loan to private schools has shrunk drastically due to the needs of the schools run by the ministry.
“There are just 37 teachers on loan to 10 private schools, teaching Arabic, Islamic studies, physical education, mathematics, science, commercial studies, nationalism and IT,” said Dr Al Nuaimi.
“The loan period is also changing and whenever we call our teachers back, we inform the concerned private school so they can take appropriate measures and come up with alternatives.
“The private schools fully cover the monthly wages and other incentives and we don’t pay a fils as they are benefiting, but when we feel these schools are able to cope we ask for our teachers back.
“MPs’ claims that we only give teachers to schools that pay are wrong and we deny that we have rejected requests from several schools, as we have criteria that also involves the Civil Service Bureau.
“If we are presented cases, we will assess and tell MPs why we approved or rejected any particular case.”
The minister added that teachers are also sent to present educational courses in parliament, centres for disabilities and elderly homes on a temporary basis.
He said around 38,000 students in private schools and other institutions are benefiting from transportation and books, while around 200,000 books have been distributed among private school students.
Dr Al Nuaimi also denied another accusation that classrooms in government schools are overcrowded.
According to 2018-2019 statistics, the average number of students in each classroom in primary schools was 29-30, while it was 27-33 students in intermediate and secondary schools and 17-24 in technical and vocational schools.
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