Manama: Qatar is to take legal action against private education centres, operating without a valid licence.
According to a report by the Higher Education Institute (HEI), the regulator of private education centres, 43 private learning centres, including several language, computer and administrative training institutes, face legal action after they failed to renew their licence.
Operating under the umbrella of the Supreme Education Council (SEC), Qatar has 118 private institutions.
Such private education centres have become extremely popular and are generally lucrative for those who own them.
They mainly offer language, computer and administrative courses, while some specialise in special needs teaching courses.
According to the HEI, 48 centres have language courses, 41 institutions teach administrative and technical training and 29 have computer courses.
However, the Higher Education Institute is expected to crack down on those which have not renewed their licence, Qatari daily The Peninsula reported on Thursday.
The report said that 20 of the 41 training centres, 12 of the 29 multi-course centres and 11 computer centres are guilty of the offence.
The Higher Education Institute has prepared an extensive database of private education facilities and is urging people to log on to the SEC website to check their status.
