DOHA: In a rare gesture, a local charity organisation has come forward to construct a new building inside the campus of Pakistan Education Center (PEC), a leading community school run by the Pakistani Embassy in Qatar, located in Abu Hamour.

The Jassim and Hamad bin Jassim Charitable Foundation (HBJ Foundation) recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Pakistani embassy to build the facility.

The over QR7m facility, once complete, will offer education in International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE), parallel to the existing curriculum, at affordable fees. Classes are expected to start in September 2019 and admission will be open to students of all nationalities.

The agreement was signed by HBJ Foundation Chairman Sheikh Nawaf bin Jassim bin Jabor AI Thani and Pakistani Ambassador to Qatar Shahzad Ahmed.

The signing ceremony was attended by HBJ Foundation board member and Chief Executive Officer Sa";eed Mathkar AI Hajri and Nargis Raza, principal of PEC, along with other officials.

Construction will start soon and is expected to be complete in 20 months, said Al Hajiri at a press conference held after the signing ceremony.

'The new building will have 18 additional classrooms, offices for administrators and supervisors, in addition to laboratories, meeting halls, among others”, said Al Hajri.

'With a capacity of 500 to 600 students, it will introduce International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE)”, said Raza.

New curriculum to provide more options to PEC students

The new curriculum will run parallel to the existing one to provide more options to the students of PEC to pursue their higher studies in most famous universities of the world, said Raza.

Students from all nationalities can seek admission in the new curriculum, she added. Students of PEC can also switch to the new curriculum.

IGCSE is an English language curriculum offered to students to prepare them for International Baccalaureate, A Level and BTEC Level 3 (which is recommended for higher tier students). It is based on the GCE O-Level and is recognised as being equivalent to the GCSE. Students begin learning the syllabus at the beginning of year 10 and take the test at the end of year 11.

The new building will enable the PEC to deliver world-class education, help it upgrade itself from a normal school to one that could enable its students to compete with international educational institutions, said Al Hajri.

It will enable Pakistani students to get world-class education as a number of them are enrolled in other schools and are lacking opportunities for post-high school education at an affordable cost.

The Pakistan ambassador expressed his gratitude the chairman of HBJ Foundation for their approval to construct the educational centre and to upgrade it academically after the completion of construction.

'This gesture will enhance the fraternal relations between Qatar and Pakistan,” Shahzad said.

Raza hoped that the project would enable students to translate their dreams into a tangible reality and get world-class education at an educational institution built for that purpose.

Around 3,200 students (boys and girls), mostly Pakistanis, are enrolled at the PEC which has 170 teachers and 62 administrative staff, Raza added.

Raza said PEC was established as a non-profit community school aiming to meet the educational needs of Pakistani children in particular and other communities in general, and to deliver a high quality education at affordable fees.

The Peninsula