With just a few days to go until the start of the new academic year in Qatar, the Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MoEHE) together with the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) has issued a package of precautionary measures against COVID-19 to ensure a safe and healthy environment in all schools across the country.

All public and private school staff members will undergo medical examinations by MOPH and HMC before the beginning of the school year to ensure that they are free of COVID-19, priority of examination will be given to teachers followed by administrative staff.#QNA

— Qatar News Agency (@QNAEnglish) August 26, 2020

Accordingly, all employees in government and private schools in Qatar will undergo testing before the start of the school year to make sure they are free of COVID-19.

١- فحص جميع العاملين في المدارس الحكومية من قبل وزارة الصحة العامة ومؤسسة حمد الطبية قبل بداية العام الدراسي والتأكد من خلوهم من المرض.
٢- فحص جميع العاملين في المدارس الخاصة من قبل القطاع الصحي الخاص قبل بداية العام الدراسي والتأكد من خلوهم من المرض.

— وزارة التعليم (@Qatar_Edu) August 26, 2020

In a series of tweets on its official page, the Ministry highlighted the following:

- Test for all government school employees by MoPH and Hamad Medical Corporation before the start of the school year

- Test for all workers in private schools by the private health sector before the beginning of the school year

 -Priority for the tests will be given to academic staff (male and female teachers) followed by the administrative staff

The Ministry emphasized that all schools in the country must comply with the precautionary health measures, which were previously announced by the Health and Safety Department.

Anyone who willfully or negligently violates the preventive measures relating to epidemics and infectious diseases will be subjected to legal liability, under Law No. (9) of 2020.

The Ministry warns that anyone who willfully or negligently violates the preventive measures relating to epidemics and infectious diseases will be subjected to legal liability, under Law No. (9) of 2020.#QNA

— Qatar News Agency (@QNAEnglish) August 26, 2020

Violators may face a penalty of imprisonment for a period not exceeding 3 years and a fine not exceeding 200,000 Qatari riyals or either of these two penalties.

With the new academic year, Qatar will adopt the blended learning approach as confirmed by the Ministry recently.

This educational approach combines online learning and in-person teaching in the classroom. Students will attend classes 1 to 3 times per week to do coursework, experiments, and exams, MoEHE explained earlier.

The Ministry also confirmed that the academic year 2020-2021 for government and private schools, will begin on September 1, 2020. 

During the first term, schools will receive only 30 percent of their students' capacity to attend in-person classes daily.

Schools will inform the concerned parents through SMS about the in-school days of attendance for each student.

Each student should attend one to three classes per week in-person, as assigned by the school.

As for distance learning, there will be six sessions in a day. The duration of each session will be 15 to 20 minutes

Students must have usernames and passwords to watch recorded lessons and complete assessments on the Qlearning portal.

The Ministry is also working closely with MoPH to conduct remote workshops to train school staff on precautionary measures for a safe return to school.

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