ShareKUWAIT: The ministry of education has started preparations for the new academic year (2023/2024). The ministry distributed books and school furniture to all schools. Acting director of the supply and warehousing department at the ministry Nashmiya Al-Duaihi said in a press release on Monday that the process of distributing books is nearing completion for all schools in different educational districts. Duwaihi added that these preparations come within the framework of the ministry’s keenness to provide an optimal educational environment that contributes to achieving a fruitful academic year.
Meanwhile, the ministry of education emphasized that provision of workers in schools is one of the major issues facing preparations for the upcoming academic year. This statement was made in a circular distributed by Assistant Undersecretary for Public Education Osama Al-Sultan to educational zones, religious education authorities and special education school administrations. “We urgently request reporting any staff shortages in all schools in the educational regions or any negligence by companies in carrying out their assigned tasks.
This should be done through continuous coordination and communication with the public services monitoring department in the educational regions regarding the provision of necessary staff. Please also record your daily observations on this matter through the electronic form that has been provided to the follow-up and readiness teams for the new academic year. This is to assess the preparedness of schools in relation to the upcoming academic year, with an emphasis on the importance and urgency of the matter,” Sultan said in the circular. Sultan, along with some ministry staff, departed on Monday to recruit teaching staff from Palestine.
Sultan specified that the committee's work will span 12 days, and its tasks include conducting interviews with teachers and finalizing contracting procedures. The ministry of education requires approximately 1,200 teachers for the 2023/2024 academic year. So far, around 350 of them have been recruited locally, and 120 on external contracts (from Jordan), with efforts ongoing to fulfill the remaining positions both locally and externally. Before this committee's departure to Palestine, another committee completed its work in Jordan, where it contracted 120 Jordanian teachers, despite the initial need being 200 teachers.
This recruitment involved interviews and tests for the applicants. In a related context, the ministry of education has accepted all applicants who meet the criteria, including Kuwaiti nationals, Kuwaiti women, bedoons and female Gulf residents for subjects such as mathematics at the middle and high school levels, and physics at the high school level, in addition to specialties in the need for male teachers. They have been exempted from the experience requirements. Their procedures have been conducted in accordance with regulations and rules, and they will commence their duties at the start of the school year on Sept 10.
