Kuwait: Ministry of Education to sack 417 expats
Part of Kuwaitisation policy aimed at creating 100% Kuwaiti public sector workforce
Kuwait City: Kuwait’s Ministry of Education has said it is planning on terminating the contract of 416 expatriates, as per the instructions of the Civil Service Bureau, Al Anba reported.
The decision comes as the public sector is trying to achieve Kuwaitisation, a 2017 governmental policy that aims to replace all expats with Kuwaitis in order to create a 100 per cent Kuwaiti workforce.
An informed source told Al Anba the names of all the employees that are to be sacked have been prepared and they are just awaiting approval.
Last week, the Minister of Trade and commerce, Faisal Al Medlej, revealed the Civil Service Bureau has drawn up a report to reduce the number of expats working in the public sector. The report stated that within two years the education sector should achieve 97 per cent of Kuwaitisation.
Teachers stuck abroad
Last month, the Ministry of Education released a report that indicated that 54 per cent of the non-Kuwaiti teachers stuck abroad, whose residency has expired, are no longer needed, Al Qabas reported.
The 693 teachers that were reviewed in the report have been stuck outside of Kuwait since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic due to travel restrictions and lockdowns.
In August, Kuwaiti authorities stopped renewing residency permits for non-Kuwaiti teachers stuck abroad.