KUWAIT: Some high school graduates and their parents were outraged during the long weekend over the higher education ministry’s decision to change the way it announces the names of those accepted into its foreign scholarship program.

Every year, thousands of Kuwaiti high school graduates anticipate the government’s announcement to see if they made the cut for the competitive program. The program gives students the opportunity to get an all-expenses-paid scholarship to pursue their undergraduate studies in one of several countries approved by the ministry. Eligible fields of study are determined according to the needs of government agencies, the country’s development plan, and the job market and in coordination with the ministry’s cultural division offices. Students who obtained high school diplomas in the years 2023/2024 and 2022/2023 from various types from public, private, and foreign schools are allowed to apply.

On Saturday, Minister of Education Dr Adel Al-Adwani said it approved the names of 3,325 students admitted to the foreign scholarship plan for the year 2024-2025. But the announcement soon became a source of controversy. Unlike previous years, a full list of names of students who were accepted into the program was not published for the public to review. Instead, students and their families were asked to enter the graduate’s civil ID number on a dedicated website to find out whether they were accepted in the government’s study abroad post-secondary scholarship program.

‘Nothing is clear’

People were skeptical on social media of the decision, claiming the ministry was not being transparent. Many said they were not accepted into the program despite having high grades that they think should be enough to qualify them. They questioned the ministry’s policy and whether they had anything to hide.

“What’s happening is not fair for our children,” said one person with the handle @fjoora on Instagram. “Nothing is clear and there are discrepancies in the acceptance process ... Ministry employees are not answering my inquiries.” Others complained about the new aptitude test for engineering and medical specialties announced in 2023, which was first adopted for graduates this year. The test, which has been in the works for 10 years, had been touted by the government as “a system with international standards to measure the capabilities of high school graduates and achieve equal opportunities in higher education institutions.” It has been recently criticized in local media for not meeting expectations - merely copying Kuwait University’s outdated entrance test.

“Does it make sense to evaluate students based on a two-hour test and throw away three years of education?” asked a person with the handle @hamadi1543. “My daughter who went to a public school got 99 percent in the science stream and her friend got 97 percent. My daughter didn’t get a scholarship but her friend who did better in the test did.”

Some people accused the ministry’s scholarship program of favoring students from foreign-language private schools, a claim the ministry denies every year.

A spokesperson with Kuwait Transparency Society said in a statement on their Instagram account that the ministry’s decision not to publish the names was in violation of the country’s policies. “The Access to Information Law obliges government agencies to disclose the data they have about the future of individuals. We demand the ministry to release the names of the students accepted into the program,” Lawyer Mohammed Al-Fahad was quoted on the organization’s Instagram account.

Privacy concerns

Acting Undersecretary of the Ministry of Higher Education Lamia Al-Mulhim said in a statement Sunday that comments on the ministry’s policy being circulated on social media are not true. The ministry, she said, accepted students based on their high school grades and, for those applying to study engineering or medical specialties, the aptitude test. They also took into consideration the top eight choices designated by the student.

The ministry’s choice not to publish a full list of students who were accepted into the program was to protect the students’ privacy. Mulhim called on anyone with questions on why they were not accepted to reach out to the ministry. She added that the ministry also has other study-abroad programs, including merit scholarships and direct dispatch missions for medical specializations.

Students wishing to receive foreign scholarships can apply through the official website of the ministry, with registration open until February 2025. She said the ministry does not specify specific seats for the direct scholarship plan. “If the conditions of the universities in the countries of delegation are met, the student obtains academic admission, and the conditions for direct scholarship missions are met, the student will be accepted directly into the scholarship,” said the statement.