KUWAIT: Education Minister Mohammed Al-Fares tours high schools to check on students taking their midterms yesterday. —KUNA photos

KUWAIT: Education Minister Mohammed Al- Fares said midterm exams kicked off yesterday for 12th grade high school students. He toured some secondary schools to make sure the process is going smoothly in a suitable environment and that the exams are suitably set. Speaking to reports covering his visit to Al- Adan Secondary School for Girls in Mubarak Al-Kabeer, Fares said he was briefed by various supervisors about the exam’s levels. Fares said that part of the Ministry of Education’s future plans is to activate e-correspondence in various schools, the ministry and with parents.

Bedoon students Kuwait University’s postgraduate studies faculty dean Dr Fareeda Al-Awadhi said the decision on accepting bedoon students at Kuwait University will have to be reconsidered and discussed at the university’s council meeting on Jan 12. She also stressed that the decision would have to be approved by Fares. Awadhi added that registration for bedoon students would be opened once it is approved, so that they could start their courses from the beginning of the first semester next year.

Tender rejected The Central Tenders Committee (CTC) recently rejected a tender presented by the Ministry of Education to lease seven vehicles to be used by the six educational area directors and the private education director, said the education ministry’s assistant undersecretary for financial affairs Yousef Al-Najjar, noting that the ministry is currently considering financing the lease contracts after getting the finance ministry’s approval.

Smart meters Meanwhile, the Ministry of Electricity and Water (MEW) asked the CTC to extend the tenure of a committee entrusted with studying a tender on smart electricity meters for a further month so that the committee could give more detailed results. Meanwhile, MEW’s assistant undersecretary for consumer affairs Yousef Al-Ajeel urged the heads of consumer affairs offices to conduct a survey to separate commercial stores from investment apartments as a preparatory measure before imposing the new electricity consumption tariffs on the commercial sector by May 22.

By A Saleh