Cairo: School attendance in Qatar will increase to reach 50 per cent of the total capacity of education institution in the second semester, the Qatari news agency QNA reported on Tuesday.
The Education Ministry has decided to raise the average attendance rate at all government and private schools as well as kindergartens to reach 50 per cent of the capacity during the second semester starting on January 3, it added.
An education system blending class attendance and online learning will continue to be applied alternately, it said.
According to this system, 50 per cent of the school students are required to attend the class for one week and get distance learning during the following week.
The ministry said that the rise in class attendance rate aims at gradual return of students in coordination with the Ministry of Public Health while abiding by precautions against COVID-19.
In October, Qatar scrapped a system giving students the choice between class attendance and online learning.
Starting from November 1, authorities made school attendance mandatory and started applying a system combining alternate school attendance and distance learning. At the time, average attendance was set for 42 per cent of the overall capacity at each school. Qatar, a country of 2.7 million people, so far has confirmed a total of 143,222 virus cases and 244 related deaths.
