Manama: Kuwait’s education minister has ruled out summer holidays for his deputies, saying that action plans were not moving ahead as expected.
“There will be no holidays or trips abroad this summer,” Badr Al Essa said as he chaired a meeting with the ministry undersecretaries. “I had asked you to prepare plans for each of the sectors and today I ask you where they are,” he said, local daily Al Watan reported on Thursday.
The minister who is also in charge of the higher education said that he was not happy with the situation and there would be no holidays in the summer in order to use the time to plan ahead for the 2015-2016 academic year.
All efforts are critically needed to prepare for the end of the year exams next month and for the new school year after the summer break, he said.
The minister told the deputies that they were required to address all the deficiencies in their sectors, a source familiar with the meeting told the daily.
The assistant undersecretaries will submit weekly reports about the latest developments in the preparations for the new academic year.
The reports should also include an overview of the achievements and a list of the obstacles and impediments, the minister said.
Issues in the private education, including the school fees and the measures to be taken against the schools that fail to comply with the ministry’s directives, were also raised by the minister at the meeting.
Since he was given the education portfolio in Kuwait, Al Essa, a former professor of social studies at the University of Kuwait, has been pressing for major reforms to eliminate routine and boost performance levels among students and staff.
