A/HRC/44/39/Add.1 (b) Private “community schools” established under the sponsorship of embassies, particularly those with large migrant communities in Qatar. The operation of these not-forprofit schools, established with significant support from the Government of Qatar, is funded by school fees alone. These are often relatively low compared to other private or international schools, although some may be rather high. These schools can have varying degrees of co-education and welcome other nationalities, including Qataris, although they attend in small numbers. The curriculum is that of the country of origin, the general approach being that the children, like their parents, are not destined to remain in the country for a long period of time, and must be able to reintegrate in the school system in their country on their return; (c) International private, for-profit or not-for-profit schools, which can have very high tuition fees. The curriculum is often international, based for example on the International Baccalaureate. These schools accommodate students of all nationalities, including Qataris, in varying proportions. 24. The distinctions between these types of schools are not always clear. For example, some private schools consider themselves as community schools because they mainly welcome children from one community, teach the curriculum of that community’s country of origin, and have a relationship with an embassy but are not sponsored by it. There are also schools of excellence, from many other countries, that have been invited to settle in Qatar under the Outstanding School Initiative and participate in the educational voucher programme.2 25. The Qatar Foundation has also established a number of schools, which are not-forprofit, demand tuition fees and operate under the Ministry of Education. These schools are located in Education City in Doha, but also in other towns in the country. Their aim is to foster critical spirit and initiative, and nurture students’ own values and openness to those of others. The Qatar Foundation and Education City thus crucially contribute to the education system in Qatar, significantly improving its quality, particularly through the development of new teaching methods, an emphasis on teacher training, cooperation with universities and sharing experience and best practice with public schools. 26. In 2018, there were 307 public schools welcoming about 122,000 students, and 598 private schools welcoming about 196,000 students, about 9,000 of them in private Arab schools, 156,500 in private international schools, and 30,300 in community schools. The private sector accommodates about 60 per cent of the school population, and about 67 per cent of the school population is foreign.3 2. Educational reforms 27. While the education system in Qatar is rather young, with the first boys’ school established in Doha in 1948, tremendous progress has been achieved towards expanding schools throughout the territory and improving their quality. 28. Between 2002 and 2004, Qatar engaged in a major educational reform in order to raise student achievement. This led in particular to the creation of a system of “independent schools”. Public schools remained under the oversight of the Government, with modified governance, as private local and international organizations were encouraged to operate and manage them within the framework of four principles: autonomy of schools in their hiring policies, curriculum, professional development, pedagogy and internal policies; variety of the programmes or curriculum; choice of parents; and accountability of schools for student outcomes. Curriculum standards had to be implemented by schools with a corresponding set of national assessments at each grade level.4 2 3 4 6 See www.edu.gov.qa/en/Pages/pvschoolsdefault.aspx. Qatar, Department of Educational Policy and Research, Statistics Section, “Statistical Bulletin of Education November 2018”, pp. 7 and 24–25. Ramzi Nasser, “Qatar’s educational reform past and future: challenges in teacher development”, Open Review of Educational Research, vol. 4, No. 1 (2017).