State departments study labor market's needs by 2020

KUWAIT: The public prosecution remanded in custody two businessmen charged of selling bogus real estate to citizens inside and outside Kuwait. The prosecution said the two founded several companies and used them for real-estate fraud. The criminal court also ruled to keep a former football player in jail on charges of insulting HH the Amir on Twitter. The defendant has denied those charges.

Meanwhile, the criminal court sentenced the former chairman of the police co-op society to 15 years in jail and seven Egyptian and Yemeni men to jail terms ranging between seven and 10 years for embezzling KD 1 million, and fined all the accused KD 1.680 million. In the meantime, the co-op's current chairman Maj Gen Mansour Al-Awadhi began reviewing contracts signed with several companies including for surveillance cameras, which has a value of over KD 100,000, while its actual cost is no more than KD 5,000. Awadhi will report to concerned authorities to investigate suspected violation of public funds.

Labor market's needs
Minister of Social Affairs and Labor and Minister of State for Economic Affairs Hind Al-Sabeeh ordered the formation of a permanent committee to coordinate between Civil Service Commission (CSC), the Public Authority for Manpower, the General Secretariat of the Supreme Council for Planning and Development, the Central Statistics Bureau and other governmental monitoring bodies to handle public and private labor market's needs by 2020 in a way that matches the 'New Kuwait 2035' vision. The minister asked for a full study to be made by the end of the current fiscal year including offering more incentives to encourage citizens to work for the private sector, well-informed sources said.
The sources added that more focus would be on vocational and technical education for dropouts to provide technicians needed. The minister also stressed the importance of linking educational outputs with the actual needs of the labor market and integrating citizens with special needs in mainstream jobs. Meanwhile, CSC sources said Sabeeh met CSC officials to resolve employment problems and enforce the replacement of expats with citizens, namely in advisory positions, who could be replaced by retired citizens.

Foreign students
Minister of Education Hamed Al-Azmi stressed that Kuwait University (KU) is still the only government university in Kuwait and that this compels it to accept all students matching admission conditions, which is usually far beyond its capacity. Azmi explained that according to KU's admission policy, 90 percent of admitted students are Kuwaitis and those who receive similar treatment, and only 10 percent are non-Kuwaitis, which reduces KU's rankings in terms of serving foreign students. Azmi noted that a committee had been formed in 205 and reformed in 2017 to boost Kuwait University's international ranking and that a special plan was set and included in KU's strategy for the years 2018-2022.

Bachelors
Minister of State for Municipal Affairs Hossam Al-Roumi said that the total number of complaints filed concerning bachelors residing in private residential areas is 117, including 18 in Mubarak Al-Kabeer, 15 in Ahmadi, 31 in Jahra, four in Hawalli and 76 in Farwaniya.

By A Saleh