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Penalties for offering private tuitions in Sharjah Afkar Abdullah / 6 February 2014 Sharjah Education Zone issues circular imposing tough penalties against teachers offering private tuitions. Private tuitions can affect the quality of education provided at schools and add to the financial burden of parents. — Photo used for illustrative purposes Following several complaints from parents about teachers offering private tuitions to students, the Sharjah Education Zone issued a circular imposing tough penalties against such teachers. Offering tuitions to students is strictly prohibited by the Ministry of Education, as it affects the quality of education provided at schools and adds more financial burden on parents. Some teachers reportedly force students to inform their parents that they would have to take tuition classes citing lack of time to complete the syllabus in class. Mona Shuhail, Deputy Director of the Sharjah Education Zone, said they received several complaints from parents about tuitions being offered to their children in private schools. Based on the regulations of the Ministry of Education, the authority issued the circular and distributed it to all private and public schools in Sharjah. The circular warned teachers that giving private tuitions would result in tough penalties including warnings, fines and dismissal. “The education zone recently fined some private schools which were found promoting private tuitions for its students after schools hours,” Shuhail said. If a teacher is found violating regulations, a written warning is first issued, and if the teacher repeats the offence, the zone instructs the school to terminate the teacher’s services. “The practice (of promoting tuitions), which is increasing at private schools, affects education development and the financial budgets of parents,” she said. Hessah Al Khajah, Director of Private Schools at the Sharjah Education Zone, said parents and teachers are equally responsible for the practice. Al Khajah urged schools managements to take all efforts to combat it so as to improve the quality of education. The zone had earlier introduced ‘education strengthening classes’ at a little extra charge to combat private tuitions. School principals Khaleej Times spoke to said “poor teaching processes” at some schools force parents to opt for private tuition classes. “Some parents can’t afford to pay for private tuitions in addition to the annual school fees,” one principal said. – afkarali@khaleejtimes.com For more news from Khaleej Times, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/khaleejtimes , and on Twitter at @khaleejtimes Taylor Scott International
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