'Mass exodus' of expat teachers from education ministry

KUWAIT: The labor office at the Egyptian embassy banned owners of small projects from bringing in workers from Egypt to Kuwait with visas related to the projects, after the office received many complaints, a local daily reported yesterday quoting sources. Egyptian workers who arrived in Kuwait lately were surprised to find there were no real jobs, the sources told Al-Qabas. Their sponsors asked them to change the type of residency or choose another job in small projects. They said they had to pay KD 1,500 for a three-year residency permit. Reports had surfaced earlier this year about local authorities investigating possible involvement of some small projects' owners in visa trafficking cases reported recently in Kuwait.

Teachers resign
Meanwhile, educational officials in several educational zones warned against a drop in the number of teachers in some specialties next year if the ministry does not take measures to increase the number of teachers contracted locally and from abroad. Officials said some zones saw many resignations from expat teachers in various specialties, especially in science - including physics and chemistry - in addition to computers and English.
They said the majority of those submitting their resignations are Jordanians, Egyptians and Tunisians in the intermediate and secondary stages, adding that the resignations did not have reasons mentioned, but after inquiring about the reason, it was found out that they all signed contracts with the education ministry of a neighboring country starting from the next school year. They added that another group of expat teachers took special leaves for three days to go for interviews in the Gulf country after their applications were accepted, but they did not resign until the results of the interviews were known. "I went for an interview in a Gulf country in mid-March along with nearly 40 teachers of various specialties," an expat teacher said. He said that many teachers went during the midterm break for written exams and personal interviews, and some had already signed contracts.

Low salaries
Meanwhile, official statistics revealed that 81 percent of expatriate labor in the private sector receive salaries less than KD 330 per month, while one million out of 1.67 million expats in the private sector receive KD 125 or lower in monthly salaries. Only 1,492 persons receive a salary exceeding KD 5,000 per month; five percent of the total number of private sector expat employees, the statistics show.
Separately, Al-Qabas also reported that the number of marriages in January reached 1,148, while divorces reached 634 during the same month according to new statistics from the statistics and research department at the justice ministry. The statistics showed 345 cases of reversible divorce and 66 cases of khula (divorce initiated by the wife). Statistics also showed that the Capital governorate had the most divorce cases at 269, followed by Hawally at 108, Ahmadi with 106 and Mubarak Al-Kabeer with 53. The number of marriages outside the country reached 39, while the number of premarital medical tests reached 1,065, three of which appeared unsafe.