KUWAIT: New hirings in Kuwait by the ministry of education will increase the number of its faculty members from around 88,000 (63,900 Kuwaitis and 24,300 non-Kuwaitis) to around 90,000, mostly in teaching or managerial positions, maintaining the percentage of employees as determined by the Civil Service Bureau at 27.5 percent for non-Kuwaitis and 72.5 percent for Kuwaitis.

Local hirings of faculty members exceeded 167 teachers until last week, which is less than the 1,000 teachers stipulated to be recruited. Foreign contracts are expected to decrease due to prospective employees declining appointments, with the ministry hiring 80 to 90 Jordanian teachers. All new hirings have been done for specific specializations which the ministry lacks.

The administrative sector at the ministry has completed its duties over the preparation for the new academic year. To make up the shortfall in employees, it plans to hire around 790 local and foreign teachers according to the needs of public education. Out of 170 teachers who were interviewed, contracts have been signed with 129 teachers, who will gradually join from October.

An administrative team has been formed to complete procedures regarding new teachers at the health and interior ministries in coordination with Kuwait airport to receive them as soon as approval from the Civil Service Commission is received. The committee appointed to hire teachers from Palestine has contracted around 500 teachers specializing in Physics and Mathematics to make up for the shortage of contracts with Jordanian teachers, which was supposed to reach 280 teachers, as previously the ministry had planned to only contract 365 Palestinian teachers.

Undersecretary resigns

Meanwhile, Education Minister Ali Al-Mudhaf has accepted the resignation of his undersecretary for private education Abdulmehsen Al-Huwaila, effective from Sept 28. Meanwhile, the head of the public service department at the ministry Feras Kurtch, said the department has reinforced some educational areas with more than 940 assistants, as procedures with five cleaning contracts have been completed and five other contracts for security have been finalized. Some will start their services in October and others in January. Kurtch appreciated the efforts of all workers in the ministry, and wished them the best for the upcoming school year.