Doha, March 23 (IANS): Six new Indian schools are among 91 new private schools given approval to open by authorities in Qatar.

The move is expected to help parents get admission for their wards with fees on the lower side as well, said a senior at the Supreme Education Council (SEC) here, while relaxing some of the admission procedures for private school students, The Peninsula newspaper reported.

The SEC has given initial approval to 91 new private schools to open in the next academic year, including six Indian schools, senior SEC official Aisha Al Hashmi disclosed.

She hinted that some existing Indian schools would open new branches very soon, probably by the next month.

"By September 2015, six Indian schools will open, some of them will be only kindergartens and others will have classes for other grades as well. Schools which were not allowed to admit more students due to lack of seats will soon open branches, it could be even by April before the Indian Schools start their academic year," she said addressing a news conference on Sunday.

"The new schools will be an alternative option for parents and their fees will be lower compared to some other private schools," she added.

A total of 145,000 students are presently studying at private schools and 23,000 of them are Qataris.

Qatar is home to around 600,000 expatriate Indians.