The wait is over for students who wish to pursue International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) curriculum at an affordable fee here in Qatar.
One of the oldest educational institutions in town, Pakistan Education Centre (PEC), a community school working under the aegis of Pakistan embassy, is coming up with its own IGCSE building block to take in students wishing to study the internationally-recognised curriculum.
The school recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Jassim and Hamad bin Jassim Charitable Foundation for the construction of the block, to be constructed on the premises of the school. The principal of PEC Nargis Raza Otho expects the new block would be up and running by early 2018.
It would have its own laboratories and over 17 classrooms to accommodate dozens of students. The new block will not just provide the existing PEC students an opportunity to pursue the high-in-demand IGCSE curriculum in the same school, it is expected to attract many new students from outside as well.
The principal hopes it would further diversify the cultural mix of PEC, which already has students of 27 nationalities.
“There was a huge demand for the IGSCE curriculum as it is internationally recognised and helps students secure admissions for higher studies abroad in international universities,” Principal Nargis Raza Otho tells Community in an interview.
“Parents were concerned because the students who wanted to pursue this curriculum had to leave PEC and find other private institutions, which were not too cost effective either. We will offer the IGSCE at a very affordable fee since we are community school,” she explains.
Otho says the school has been planning to start this curriculum for many years but needed a separate building for it as it was a requirement of the British Council. Being a community school, they did not have enough resources to construct the building on their own.
The school therefore approached Jassim and Hamad bin Jassim Charitable Foundation, which helps the communities in health and education sectors. This is their first project in Doha.
“When I went to them, they said they would definitely help us. Then we took the permission from the Ministry of Education and of course it would not have been possible without the help of the ambassador of Pakistan, Shahzad Ahmad,” says the principal.
“The ambassador also wants that we have the building for IGSCE, [so that] Pakistani students are able to study it here at PEC. Our fee structure will be much less than what other international schools are charging right now,” says Otho.
Ambassador Ahmad himself was present at the MoU signing ceremony attended among others by Sheikh Nawaf bin Jassim al-Thani, Chair Board of Directors, Jassim and Hamad bin Jassim Charitable Foundation, besides Saeed-bin-Mathkhar al-Hajiri, the CEO of the Foundation.
Otho says the school will hire qualified faulty for the IGSCE curriculum from Pakistan. The school will provide the land to the charity and secure permission from the Ministry for Education. The rest will all be done by the charity itself according to the agreement.
The charity will construct the building, which will have 18 classrooms and its own laboratory. It will be completely furnished with all necessary equipment including computers and handed over to the school by early 2018, if all goes as planned.
“We want 19 classrooms because we want to separate students from grade 7 onwards for IGSCE and going into A-levels we would have groups such as commerce and engineering. We also intend to have an IT lab and a conference room,” says the principal.
The school will give an option to its students in Grade 7 to join the IGSCE curriculum, but they will have to go through an entry test to see if they qualify for it. Otho says they will also welcome students from outside, as there is a huge demand.
“There are many students from other nationalities who want to come to our school if we start IGSCE and they have already approached us,” the PEC principal says.
Though a bit late, PEC has also embraced the modern technological advancements recently introduced to the education sector. One of them is the ‘smart board’. Replacing the traditional white board, the smart board opens endless opportunities for both teachers and students.
It reduces the hassle of a teacher spending time on writing or drawing on the board and puts vast resources at his or her hands through Internet connectivity. The teacher can then focus on making students better understand complex concepts.
“You know it is the age of technology. Today, you open your phone and you would find God knows how much information through it. So we want to provide our children with the same opportunities so that their learning becomes more practical than bookish,” the principal elaborates.
In the initial stage, the school has introduced smart boards to the secondary grade students. In the first phase, the teachers are currently being trained on using the smart boards. “There are more than 170 classes in the school, which is a big number. Considering our limited funds, we will gradually introduce this technology to all classes but it will definitely take some time. First, we will be giving it to secondary school students as they have more subjects to study,” the principal adds.
Preparing the smart boards with content is easy, less time consuming and the content can be updated at any time. It lets the teacher write, draw and erase, besides allowing him or her to show the students videos and give them links for further study from the Internet.
Equipped with latest technology, the PEC will soon be at par with the bests in town, says the principal.
“When I joined the school, it was my wish to make it a first choice school for students. We might not be there yet but we are getting there. We are working hard and we hope soon we will be there,” says Otho.
She says the PEC students have already made their mark by winning many positions in national and international levels competitions, besides performing “brilliantly” academically. All these developments at the school, she hopes, will help improve their performance in future.