Education is one of the main pillars of Qatar’s National Vision 2030. With its increasing population and the world’s highest GDP per capita, demand for quality education and quality institutions is a necessity. Subsequently, the Gulf state is heavily investing its gas and oil money into knowledge capital. But in Qatar, buying your child the best education comes at huge costs.
According to Numbeo’s global price comparison survey, which measured the cost of living in 119 countries, Qatar is the most expensive country to live in out of the six Gulf Cooperation Council countries, topping expenses in the United Arab Emirates . Overall, consumer prices went up 3.4 percent last month, compared to average levels in 2013, and this is in no small part due to rising education fees.
Recently released government figures from Qatar’s Ministry of Development, Planning and Statistics (MDPS) show that education costs in Qatar have jumped 11.4 percent since 2013, adding to Qatar’s rising cost of living, according to a recent article by Doha News .
And according to the same article, the Supreme Education Council’s annual Schools and Schooling reports that on average, some $3,579 (QR 13,026) is spent per year to educate each child in a household – up from $2,804 (QR 10,208) in 2011-12. The figure took into account the free schooling offered to Qatari children at government-run independent schools, as well as the cost of an overall education – including tuition fees and books – at private Arabic and international schools.
To put this into perspective, the current tuition fee for a leading international school in Qatar, Compass International School, Al Khor, is $11,030 (QR 40,170) per year to enroll in secondary school. American School of Doha demands a staggering fee of $19,183 (QR 69,858) per year for those in Grade 9-12. Most of the registration and capital fees to these schools are non-transferable and non-refundable.
Qatar keeps on striving to provide the best global education projects. It is fast becoming one of the most significant players in the field of education innovation, fast-forwarding its own education system and supporting projects in some of the toughest environments. But citizens of Doha are concerned that the state’s rapidly increasing education costs are getting out of control.
Mohammad Attia, a graphic designer based in Doha, whose daughter is enrolled in preschool believes that expensive education is usually an investment in his children, but that isn't the case in Doha.
"Here, you pay staggering amounts of cash, even for preschool, and in my opinion, you don't get quality education for your kids in return. Normally, the more you pay, the better education quality you get. In Qatar, it's definitely not worth the amount of money you're paying," Attia said.