KUWAIT: The Ministry of Education (MoE) postponed the termination of 400 expatriate office boys until further notice due to a severe shortage in most schools, well-informed sources said. MoE will continue with its plans to replace expats in other areas, such as teachers, legal researchers, accountants and administrative staff with Kuwaitis, the sources added, noting that 750 of them had been laid off this year.

Meanwhile, the ministry of education referred to the parliament a list with the names of 216 Kuwaitis who had graduated from the American University in Athens to be included in Minister Hamed Al-Azmi's response to parliamentary inquiries made by MP Mohammed Al-Dallal. In his response, Azmi explained that the list included the names of 85 Kuwaitis who got bachelor's, master's and PhD degrees in administrative sciences, 81 in engineering, 10 in law, eight in science and one master's degree in computer engineering.

In other news, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MoCI) issued a decision mandating insurance companies, insurance brokers, real estate brokerage companies, real estate offices dealing with gold and precious metals and moneychangers to procure a certificate from the Public Authority for Manpower certifying that a Kuwaiti auditor had been appointed as a condition to renewing their commercial licenses.

By A Saleh