KUWAIT: The Education Ministry is facing a crisis in providing school buildings as the number of people in older areas is on the increase with the rise in rent values in new areas, an educational source said. The ministry rejected requests of tens of investors who asked for either allowing them to use some of its old buildings, or allocate lands to build private schools, Al-Rai reported yesterday.

As for land allocation requests, the source said that the ministry agreed to place them in the list of requests from many investors, but as for providing the buildings, it said "the ministry does not have any school buildings that meet the purpose it was requested for."

Twelve requests were received in 2018 alone from various educational establishments in all educational systems, the source said. He added that the rejection was for all, and no applications were approved for any investor because of the scarcity of buildings, and also because several government departments are using these buildings including the defense, public works and health ministries.

The source hoped matters will be reconsidered at the education ministry with regards to granting plots of land to the private education sector and granting priority to investors in the Arabic system, as major areas suffer from a scarcity of Arab schools, including Ahmadi.