When Qatar’s Ministry of Education unveiled plans to allow individual schools in the country to start evening batches for students for the first time, there was a widespread appreciation for the move.

Soon after, four Indian schools announced that they were going to hold entrance exams for students interested in the evening batch of classes.

However, the latest moves suggest that evening batches in Indian schools have been put on hold for the time being, according to Gulf Times. 

The Ideal Indian School, Shantiniketan Indian School, MES Indian School and Olive International School had earlier announced the launch of the second shift from the 2019-20 academic year.

The Ideal Indian School, in a notification on its website, said the “evening shift is on hold until further confirmation from the Ministry of Education. Registration and admission tests are being cancelled.”

The MES Indian School posted on Twitter (the tweet has since then been deleted) that they have suspended admission to the evening shift and advised the parents to wait for further instructions from the ministry, according to The Peninsula.

None of the schools gave any reason for the instructions from the Ministry.

An official from Olive International School, which had announced the registration process for the evening shift only last week, also said that the process is on hold till further instruction.

An official at a leading Indian school said they had advised parents seeking admission of their wards to wait until further information from the ministry. 

“The final decision is expected after a meeting with the ministry soon,” the source was quoted as saying by Qatar Tribune.

It is understood that the ministry is taking a re-look at the evening shift and the school has informed parents at the time of admission that it is provisional and inter-school transfer is subject to ministry approval.

Parents who have already secured admission to the second shift in some of these schools expressed concern as some of them have already paid the fees and even bought uniform and books. 

A parent, Rifa, was seen asking MES, which was first off the block to kick off the admission procedure, on Twitter: “Pls reply, as I have already bought uniform and books, as per your instruction.”

Another parent told us that they have paid the fees already and was about to apply for a transfer from the current school. 

“The idea behind the evening shift was to accommodate the children who are finding it difficult to find admission. Many parents tried to use this opportunity to shift from more expensive schools to schools charging fewer fees as the difference is significant in some cases,” an educator, who preferred not to be named, said.

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