Declining standards   

Dear Sir,

I want to bring to the attention of the Supreme Education Council (SEC) and the Evaluation Institute about the declining standards of teaching in some of the schools in Qatar. Two of my children study in a premier Indian school in Qatar. The eldest one is in a higher grade and the second has just started kindergarten. It is evident that just in a couple of years how the school standard has eroded.
My child who is in kindergarten is not at all taught in a professional way. Teachers do not take their job seriously and even basic nursery rhymes are not taught repeatedly until the children memorise them fully. This must be done in kindergarten, just as we were taught in our old school days. If the foundation of teaching is not strong, children tend to fall back when they reach higher grades.
When parents realise that children are not taught properly in schools, they panic and start sending the young ones to tuitions and coaching classes. It benefits tuitions and coaching class businesses hugely.  I urge the SEC and the managements of schools to have strict guidelines on recruiting teachers. Recruitment of teachers, I feel, should be approved by the SEC with strict criteria laid down by it.  
Low salaries offered by educational institutions discourage many talented people from joining the teaching profession. It is high time the teaching profession is given due recognition. Only then can we ensure that our children have a qualified faculty, nurturing them into facing the future.  Feedback from parents is of great importance in maintaining and monitoring the faculty.
The SEC conducts many surveys but I don’t find schools taking the same initiative. There are several online tools that can be used to conduct such surveys. The management should realise that if they don’t have feedback of what service they provide, then very little can be done to improve the service. We do get feedback from the faculty at PTA meetings about the performance of our children but what about the feedback we want to give to the school regarding the performance of the faculty?  

AF, (Full name and address supplied)  

Recycling paper in Qatar

Dear Sir,

This is in response to a query from letter writer Rifash (“Help me recycle my old school books”, Gulf Times, May 17) on where and how to get old books and paper recycled in Qatar. The individual is right in saying that all of us should follow the principle of re-use and recycling.
On a large scale, an organisation called Averda deals with recycling and waste management in Qatar. The organisation can be contacted and asked to deliver bins catering to various types of waste - plastics, paper, e-waste, cans, etc. The organisation is then contracted to pick the bins on a frequent basis. Another option is to try contact the watchman of the building one is staying.
I understand that a number of watchmen and caretakers of buildings in Qatar collect recyclable material like paper and cardboard and sell them to certain local agencies.  

Romi Sebastian, (e-mail address supplied)