KUWAIT: Contracts of terminated expatriates working in various ministries and state departments will not be extended or renewed as part of the government's plan to replace them with citizens, well-informed sources said. "Laid-off expats will not be allowed to work in any other government body," they stressed. No exceptions would be made in appointing expats in government bodies, the sources said, adding that hiring expats in specialties that cannot be covered by citizens requires approval from the Civil Service Commission (CSC).

Moreover, the sources said that a government decision had been made to mandate all state departments to annually reduce the number of expatriate employees in order to reach the numbers set by the government by 2022. They added that lists of expat employees who will be laid off during the coming fiscal year starting in April were being made.

Expat teachers

In the meantime, Ministry of Education's (MoE) Undersecretary Haitham Al-Athari stressed that the ministry will continue replacing expat teachers with Kuwaiti citizens to provide more job opportunities for newly-graduated Kuwaiti teachers, namely those specializing in History, Islamic Education, Computers and Science. Athari added that coordination is in progress with the faculties of education at Kuwait University (KU) and the Public Authority for Applied Education and Training (PAAET) to determine the number of students in various majors according to MoE's needs to meet the shortage in some subjects.

By A Saleh