Image used for representation only.
Doha, Qatar: Some of the schools in Qatar which follow the Indian CBSE curriculum are introducing a double shift system with many opening admissions for an afternoon batch for the current academic year 2024-25. The permission granted to these schools is on the condition that there are no internal transfers from other Indian schools.
Afternoon session admissions are open for KG1 to 8 in MES Indian School and Doha Modern Indian School (DMIS), while for classes I to 8 in MES-IS Abu Hamour branch, Shantiniketan Indian School (SIS), and Ideal Indian School (IIS). The schools have been given permission by the Ministry of Education and Higher Education to admit the same number of students as the morning batch.
MES Principal Hameeda Qadar confirmed to The Peninsula that both its campuses received permission from the Ministry of Education and Higher Education to start afternoon shifts. "This permission is strictly given to admit students who are not attending any schools in Qatar due to lack of availability or openings in any school," she said.
Within a few hours of opening the admissions, the school received an overwhelming response from the community, said the Principal adding that she cannot state the number as the admission is still open. MES confirmed that the session will begin on November 3 with class timings being 2pm to 7pm.
Meanwhile, SIS confirmed that it has received 4,000 applications from interested parents and still counting as of writing this report, on October 17, 2024. Principal Rafeeq Rahim said that this shift system will not affect the existing morning batch in any way. "The morning shift will continue as usual, there is no reduction in the instructional hours but we had 110 minutes break including prayer in the morning shift as per the section-wise lesson timings and that has been reduced to 70 minutes without affecting the system," he said, adding that while the morning shift will begin at 7am and conclude at 12:50pm, the afternoon batch will have classes from 1pm to 6pm.
IIS will also have similar timings for its afternoon shift classes, confirmed Principal Shaik Shamim Saheb, adding that the school has been working on the feasibility of a double shift for a long time since it has a long list of students waiting for admissions. "Ideal Indian School alone has a waiting list of 4,800 students wanting admission which means there are children who will be looking for admissions. The school is now working on recruiting staff on its campus," Shaik Shamim Saheb said.
This could be seen from the job openings posted on the social media handles of these schools mentioned above. The SIS principal also confirmed that "they will be looking to recruit a new set of teachers, however, the senior and middle leadership team will have assistants to ensure maximum productivity."
DMIS Principal Sibi Joseph said that it will internally manage the existing staff for now but will be looking at recruiting staff in the near future. The school has opened admission for class KG 1 to class 8, with the shift timings from 1pm to 6pm. It is currently in the process of developing a website to ensure parents are able to register interest. The principal added that the school has been allowed to admit the same number of students as in the morning batch.
When queried about how the school will manage to teach the kids since the academic year for Indian schools began in April 2024, Principal Shaik Shamim Saheb said that there will be issues that schools will need some time to figure out.
DMIS principal Joseph added that "the teaching schedule will be planned in such a way that the core areas for a particular academic year are handled in the next few months. So that kids are equipped with whatever skills that are required for the next academic year."
Meanwhile a school official at Loyola International School Al Wukair confirmed that it has also received permission from the Ministry but is currently not opening admissions and that it might consider the double shift in future.
