Qatar pupils facing new holiday dates for Ramadan

HOLIDAYS PLAN: Education chiefs will decide soon on a proposal to change the summer holidays in Qatar next year. (Getty Images)

School pupils in Qatar could have later summer holidays next year under plans by education chiefs to link them with the holy month of Ramadan.

A large section of the student community in the Gulf state will holiday in August and September instead of July and August if a proposal by several private schools is approved by the Ministry of Education.

A joint forum of the principals of various Asian schools has proposed changing the holidays next year because Ramadan and Eid Al Fitr will fall during August and September, Qatar daily The Peninsula reported on Tuesday.

About a dozen schools, which account for more than 50 percent of the private school students in the country, are represented in this forum.

Students from all the Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan and Philippine schools will be affected by the move.

A change in the holidays is expected to have a big impact on the travel industry, as a large number of Asian students and their parents travel home during the summer holidays.

"We have proposed September 27 as the opening date after the Eid Al Fitr holidays. There is no specific proposal about the closing date and each school can decide it according to their convenience. We are waiting for approval from the Ministry of Education to take a final decision," a senior official of an Asian private school told the paper.

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