Cairo: Kuwait’s education authorities are “sifting” through replacement lists of expatriate teachers ahead of an imminent approval, according to a local media report.
The administrative department at the Education Ministry is set to get from the ministry's public education department the lists naming the teachers in the replacement plan for the current school year. Those teachers will be notified soon, Kuwaiti newspaper Al Rai reported.
“All those named in the lists are teachers of specialities where there is a surplus of staff in government-run schools,” said an education source.
“The ministry’s public education sector has recently made some modifications to the lists including omissions and additions. They will be approved soon,” the source added without giving specific figures.
Around 2,000 teachers have, meanwhile, applied to get jobs in schools through local contracting in different specialities, according to the same source.
“But the ministry has not yet been provided with a quarter of this number as large numbers of the applicants failed to pass writing tests and interviews for the job,” the source said. Out of each 50 applicants, hardly five passed, the source added.
Last year, Kuwaiti education authorities asked the country’s Interior Ministry to revoke the residency permits of around 2,400 foreign teachers, including 1,900 teachers whose services were terminated under a plan to replace them with Kuwaitis, according to media reports. The 500 others resigned.
In recent years, Kuwait has stepped up efforts to create jobs for its citizens and replace foreign employees as part of a policy dubbed “Kuwaitisation”.
Foreigners constitute around 3.2 million of Kuwait’s overall population of 4.8 million.
