Educational wheel set to move again

Sector looks into ministry’s need for teachers

KUWAIT CITY, Aug 5: The ‘educational’ activity is set to begin again, with the resumption of work of the educational and administrative bodies in the secondary stage, as foreign schools will also complete the second semester of the year 2019/2020, for the twelfth grade.

The Ministry of Education will also begin procedures for appointing teachers from among the Kuwaitis and Gulf citizens, ‘Bedoun’ and wives of Kuwaitis, reports Al-Seyassah daily.

The education sources confirmed the commitment of foreign schools to teach students for five weeks before they begin the new scholastic year 2020/2021 – students who did not take part in the distance learning program.

Confused

The sources revealed the school departments in public and private education look confused because there is no mechanism to issue certificates for the students of Grade One to Grade Eleven because the Ministry of Education has not provided the schools any guidance, although it is more than two weeks since the decision to end the current scholastic year and approval was given to promote the students to higher grades respectively.

The sources stated the schools are not responsible for this scenario, particularly since they have results of the first semester, but the problem will arise if some expatriate students want to return to their countries to continue their studies, especially given the current circumstances.

In this context, the Ministry of Education has approved the number of virtual classes for each subject in the twelfth grade, at 4 classes per day, for the scientific and literary sections in addition to religious education.

It also specified the mechanism for evaluating twelfth grade students in its scientific and literary departments for the second semester of the current scholastic year (2019/2020) and that according to the revised curriculum, the marks were distributed at 25 percent for attendance and absence, 25 percent for participation and interaction, 25 percent for duties, and 25 percent for discipline.

Need

Meanwhile, the Public Education Sector in the Ministry of Education is currently identifying the ministry’s need for teachers for academic year 2020/2021, in preparation for announcing its actual need in September or October at the latest, reports Al-Qabas daily quoting sources.

Sources disclosed the public schools need hundreds of teachers in more than one specialization, especially the scientific ones. Sources said this need is expected to increase due to the opening of more than 20 schools in 2021 in new and remote cities throughout the country.

Sources indicated that the ministry is moving towards relying on local contracts and focusing on new graduates among Kuwaitis, children of Kuwaiti mothers married to non-Kuwaitis, then Gulf and Bedouns, and finally the residents to fill the shortage in schools.

In a press statement, the ministry announced the start of procedures for the appointment of educational staff, which were suspended due to the corona pandemic. It confirmed advising employees under the aforementioned group to complete their transactions in the coming period.

The ministry also explained that the selection of teachers is in accordance with its actual need in each specialization, affirming it will announce its need for educational specializations for academic year 2020/2021 for Kuwaitis and all other groups once the actual need is determined.