By A Saleh

KUWAIT: The Ministry of Education will start implementing the fingerprint biometric access control system in public schools at the beginning of the next school year, said official sources, noting that the decision has been made despite objections. The source elaborated that Kuwait Teachers Society is totally against making teachers use the new system in view of their work burden, which requires some leniency in occasionally arriving late if they do not have the first period on the timetable.

Further, the sources said that in doing this, the ministry complies with Civil Service Commission regulations to implement the system that is already being used for employees in various government bodies and that the project had been delayed for budgetary reasons. "A tender was offered for public bidding and the process will take more than one company to install the devices in over 900 schools," the sources explained.

Social aid

Official sources yesterday stressed that the proposal Minister of Social Affairs and Labor Dr Ghadeer Aseeri is currently preparing on granting social aid to the children of Kuwaiti women married to non-Kuwaitis will not be open for all, as some believe. Speaking on the condition of anonymity, the sources explained that the proposal is still being studied before referring it to the Cabinet, adding aid would be given according to family income, whether the husband works or is unemployed, whether the mother works or is unemployed, and if she is employed, how much she earns.

The sources noted that aid will not be given if both spouses work or the mother gets a monthly salary over KD 1,000, adding that children of Kuwaiti mothers studying in public or private universities and Public Authority for Applied Education and Training colleges already receive social allowances. "Children will also not be given aid if the mother owns a business," the sources added, noting that aid will be immediately suspended if it turns out that recipients have similar monthly incomes.