KUWAIT: As the academic year nears its conclusion with results of high school exams to be announced soon, the education ministry begins its preparations for the new school year, when students are expected to attend fulltime and not in the two-group system as the case is now, which was imposed during the coronavirus pandemic.

Informed sources said the education ministry has prepared its needs for teachers, and will inform 327 resident teachers that they are no longer needed. The teachers to be laid off include those in specialties Kuwaitis were appointed in, while some work in support jobs such as social specialists and laboratory assistants.

The sources said a committee will travel to Jordan and Palestine next month to sign contracts with Jordanian and Palestinian teachers specialized in Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry. The visit will be first to Jordan, then to Palestine to interview teachers who expressed their wish to come to Kuwait following an advertisement by the Kuwait Embassy in Jordan.

The committee that will visit Jordan is the only one that will sign contracts with teachers from abroad. The education ministry will only sign contracts with Palestinian and Jordanian teachers only in certain specialties, and no applications will be accepted from teachers of other nationalities living in Jordan or Palestine.