Custom «Education in Qatar and Beyond» Essay Paper Sample

The education systems in the Arab world have been thought to be discriminative and gender sensitive. However, Qatar as a country has embraced education and has invested in its education institutions and systems. The challenges facing the modern world cannot be tackled without having an educated population. The Qatari government realizes this fact and has made a significant step in developing educational policies, which are aimed, at growing the country intellectually (Brewer 8).

Qatar education institutions and systems have the objective of facilitating its citizens with skills and professional knowledge. This is essential to place itself at par with other developing countries. The significance of adopting changes as they occur has placed Qatar in educational limelight; where it strives to match its needs and educational advancements to comply with the needs of the 21st century. In order to achieve these, the Qatar government has taken the initiative of monitoring and managing education.

Qatar’s education policy requires mandatory primary school attendance for all children. All educational programs in schools are financed by the government while outside sponsors giving a helping hand on technical knowhow. Kindergarten attendance has been made mandatory while secondary school attendance is compulsory. The aim of these measures being put in place is to purge ignorance and illiteracy from its population. These efforts of the Qatar government have made the country as an example to emulated in its efforts to educate and develop intellectually its citizens (Kuster 16).

Despite there being public and private schools, Qatar strives to provide equitable education to all its citizens. However, cultural and religious factors influence gender interactions in school environments. Public primary schools, secondary schools and post secondary schools are gender sensitive where both sexes are not allowed to integrate freely. This depicts the religious and cultural constraints facing Qatar and the Arab countries. However, private schools are not essentially gender sensitive, and both sexes are allowed to interact and coexist freely as determined by the school policies and regulations.

The initiative to educate and empower its citizens has made Qatar be emulated by Arabic countries. The emphasis on naturally occurring wealth like oil is not a barrier to the education system. The realization that she needs to invest in her people’s intellect has made Qatar open and adoptive of the changes occurring in the modern world. Although girls provided with equitable learning opportunities as the boys, the social barriers imposed by cultural and religious prejudices have social repercussions. Girls who find themselves in a male dominated environment in their foreseeable future may find it difficult to represent themselves. The lack of a social interaction forum with men where competitiveness and academic rivalry is practiced may leave the girls to be socially repressed.

The standard of education in Qatar aspires to attain international accreditation. The Qatar students are afforded the choice of higher education institution from the western countries (Ulmer 110). This has been facilitated by the creation of an education city. This is where several international universities are located at a single localized area. The choice of the desired institution is made by the student. The integration of foreign universities into Qatar has given the country's education infrastructure a competitive advantage over the other countries in the region.

Qatar’s education affiliations enable it to embrace changes in the developing and developed world while instilling academic discipline to its students and scholars. The Qataris choice to embrace their government’s initiatives and aspirations towards education makes them leaders in a world ruled by traditional, cultural and religious beliefs for centuries. The realization of the benefits of education and providing it to her citizens makes Qatar a progressive country. The duty is to other leaders and governments in the Arabic world to emulate Qatar and liberate their citizens from the fangs of ignorance.