L N MALLICK - DOHA Pak Shama School and College, the oldest expatiate educational institution in Qatar, is all set to open an international stream to cater to the educational needs of different communities residing in Qatar. Established in 1958, the Pak Shama is affiliated to Islamabad-based Federal Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education and presently offers education facilities for boys and girls up to intermediate level. The current management, headed by M A Shahid, took over the institute in 1989. “The international stream will be in addition to the existing two wings and will be fully operational after the forthcoming summer vacations,” said Nabila Kaukab, principal of Pak Shama. The school currently has two wings, Urdu Wing and English Wing. The school is located at Al Wakra and the student strength is 1300. Medium of instructions in the new wing will be English. Registration is open now and if sufficient numbers of applicants apply, the school can start classes even before the summer vacations, clarified Kaukab. She said the management was expecting 400 to 500 students in the new wing. Kaukab said the decision to open international stream has been taken in the light of growing demand of different communities in Qatar. “After we moved to our present building in al Wakra, a large number of students holding nationalities other than Pakistan approached us and we realized that we should have a new wing to meet this demand,” remarked Kaukab. Classes will be offered from KG to VIII and admission will be open for all nationalities. “We have designed special syllabus keeping in view the requirements of international community and order for the books have already been placed,” remarked Kaukab. The new wing will also have different uniform, which will soon be available at designated outlets. To a question that if the new wing will only be for foreign students and not for Pakistanis, the principal replied in negative and said that whoever meets the admission criteria will be admitted, irrespective of the citizenship he or she holds. The school has selected a number of competent teachers from the existing faculty for the new wing while recruitment of more teachers is also in the pipeline. “We may hire foreign teachers for subjects like English but we will prefer to have all-Pakistani teaching staff,” said Kaukab. She noted that special emphasis will be given to the teaching of religious studies. For this purpose, the school will hire services of qualified religious teachers who will impart education in English language, she said. Replying to a question, the principal said that the fee structure will be slightly higher than the existing one to provide best facilities to the students. The school is purchasing new buses for the wing as well. She said school’s own building, under construction on a 10,000 square metre land in Mesaimeer area, is set to be ready by 2010. “Work is in full swing and hopefully it will be constructed as per schedule,” she said. She said a parent-teacher council will be formed for the new wing in order to meet the specific needs of the students. She emphasized that the school’s campus in al Wakra has all modern facilities. The school also offers coaching classes from 4 to 6.30 pm. “70 percent of the coaching fee charged from the students is paid to the teachers while 30 percent is taken by the school to cover administrative expenses,” she said.