Qatar - Summary

There have been some positive indications suggesting that education in Qatar will continue to develop at an accelerated pace enabled through the prosperity brought on by petroleum and natural gas revenues. But with the prosperity has also come a set of new challenges. A government in the position of benevolent provider of welfare services is in the precarious position of ensuring a level of continued prosperity for its citizens. Fluctuations in the price of oil, a growing population expecting the same entitlements as their parents, and the dependence on foreign labor are factors in the social equation that might easily lose equilibrium.

There are signs that the ruling family of Qatar is relinquishing some control in order to give citizens an outlet for political expression in an elected consultative council. Following the lead of neighboring Bahrain, Qatar seems poised to permit greater political freedoms. Such changes are needed if the country is to create a better system of state bureaucracy. As accelerated as the pace of change has been in Qatar since the first oil exports, it is clear that the country generally lags behind its GCC neighbors in terms of social progress and educational advancement. Qatar is not the pioneer in educational and training initiatives that its neighbor Bahrain is. Its population is tiny in comparison to neighboring Saudi Arabia, and Qatar does not benefit from a motivation driven by the threats of an aggressive neighbor, as does Kuwait. Furthermore, societal restrictions are more repressive in Qatar relative to the United Arab Emirates. As cautious as Qatar may be, following along the trails blazed by others is an education in itself, and not a bad option when lessons can be learned through observing the experiences of neighbors with a similar history, a common religion, a similar sociocultural outlook, and common challenges at the onset of the twenty-first century.