KUWAIT: Following 25 years of banning the recruitment of Palestinian teachers in education ministry schools, the Ministry of Interior (MoI) recently contacted the Ministry of Education (MoE) allowing transferring the residency visas of Palestinians already residing in Kuwait and holding valid residency visas to join the ministry’s teaching staffs.

The decision covers Palestinians who carry travel documents issued by Arab countries for Palestinian refugees, as opposed to Palestinians carrying Jordanian passports who had no previous restrictions to apply for jobs in the ministry.

In this regard, a letter sent from MoI Undersecretary Lt Gen Suleiman Al-Fahd to his counterpart, MoE undersecretary Haitham Al-Athari in response to the latter’s inquiry about the possibility of hiring Palestinian teachers who hold residency visas in Kuwait, included MoI’s rejection of issuing visas to Palestinians outside the country.

Educational sources added that this would be the first time since Kuwait’s liberation in 1991 to hire Palestinian teachers, which was banned due to political considerations. — Al-Qabas