Ministry working to facilitate return of 33,000 Kuwaiti students from overseas
Monitoring students conditions daily: Al-Sinan
KUWAIT CITY, April 8: Assistant Undersecretary for Missions, Equivalencies and Cultural Relations at the Ministry of Higher Education Fatima Al-Sinan assured all parents about their children studying abroad, saying the ministry is in contact with them and follows their conditions at first-hand, adding “Kuwait does not forget its children, so we are currently working to facilitate their return home”, reports Al-Anba daily.
In a special statement to the daily, Al-Sinai mentioned several categories of students, including scholarship holders from the Ministry of Higher Education, Kuwait University, Public Authority for Applied Education and Training, Ministry of Interior, Public Authority for Investment and Kuwait Fire Service Directorate, in addition agencies that send students to study abroad. She noted about 33,000 students from both sexes are studying in different scholarship countries and the Ministry of Higher Education with all cultural offices of the ministry oversee their academic matters.
She pointed out that the ministry has made a number of decisions in recent times along the lines of measures instituted to deal with the Corona virus crisis whereby April salary was disbursed in advance in March to different scholarship countries amid the postponement of students’ monthly debt deductions for a period of six months. She pointed out that the Ministry of Higher Education took a decision not to look at subjects under the online study program in the current semester so that students can complete their studies either at their scholarship headquarters or upon returning to Kuwait. This is in addition to cabinet’s decision to spend an exceptional salary for all students abroad who are on scholarships from government agencies and those studying on their own expenses.
She affirmed that the Ministry is keen on monitoring the conditions of students daily to solve any problem they face, pointing out that students whose missions were frozen until graduation have exhausted the mission time but going on with their studies to graduate this semester. She explained that exceptional salary had been paid to those students until the end of the current semester to make things easy for them abroad.
She explained that many countries have shortage of sterilizers and masks, and sometimes delay in distributing foodstuffs that need time to obtain, so recommendations have been issued to all students to request what they need “online” and stay at home. He noted the cultural offices are striving to provide students with their needs and requirements.
She added coordination is underway with relevant state ministries regarding the evacuation of Kuwaiti students overseas, noting the Ministry of Higher Education is a member of the Citizens Return Team, which was formed by the Council of Ministers for that purpose. The team includes several bodies in the country and headed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs to discuss ways to facilitate the return of students and citizens to the country.