Focus should be on quality education

Dear Sir,

This is with regard to the letter “Indian schools shouldn’t raise fees” by HAK (Gulf Times, January 27).
The Supreme Education Council (SEC) has approved the present fee structure for each school based on the facilities available at the institution. But  students require more than that. They need a holistic development which could only be provided with equal focus on quality education and extra co-curricular activities (CCAs). Though the school might have a state-of-the-art infrastructure it would be in vain if it fails to offer quality education to its students.
The letter writer, HKK, has mentioned that “Indian parents in the middle income bracket will be unable to pay if the fees go up”. I don’t completely agree with the writer on that. It is a common trend with most Indian parents to send their children to private tuition classes. But what one fails to understand is that most tuition centres work just like a  school. Their classes have almost the same strength of students as in a school class and their instructors teach in the same fashion as school teachers do. Hence the tuition centres are no different from most schools.
The point I would like to raise here is that if the middle-income Indian parents can spend their money on tuition classes, then I am sure that they can spend the same amount on schools as well if these institutions have a faculty of well-trained teachers who have the ability to assess each child’s potential and nurture them. This would help in achieving  objectives such as reducing dependence on tuition and saving the precious time of students and parents.
Another issue I would like to raise here is the unhealthy practice of Indian schools allowing teachers to join or leave  them while the academic year is in progress. This is unacceptable as students are stranded with no resources available all of a sudden. This leads to a fall in their grades as it takes time for them to adjust. This issue results in a huge loss for students, parents and the school itself.
In conclusion, I would like to stress the following points and  urge the authorities concerned to look into them:
lThe school fee structure should be based on the quality of education and not just quality of its infrastructure.
lDependence on private tuition could be reduced by providing quality education.
lEnding the practice of allowing teachers to leave while the academic year is in progress.

AP, (Full name and address supplied)

Problem at exchange house

Dear Sir,

The other day, I went to an exchange house in Bin Omran for remitting some money home. As I don’t have a Qatar ID card, I showed  my work visa copy to the counter clerk but he wanted a “seal” on the paper. I tried to reason with him  that  this is a valid work visa copy. I had no idea how I could get it sealed.  I showed him  my previous transaction receipt, that also from the same exchange company, but to no avail.
As far as I know, the exchange house,  Al Dar in this case, accepts a valid visa and passport copy for any money transaction.
I asked  the counter clerk to give me his name but he refused to do so.
I would like to know whether Al Dar exchange offices have changed their rules on documents to be submitted for remitting money.  If not, the counter clerks should be made aware of the rules fully and properly and  be trained for handling customers who don’t  have Qatar IDs.

SSN, (Full name and address supplied)

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