KUWAIT: The Assistant Undersecretary of the Ministry of Education Mona Al-Loughani said on Tuesday that non-performing Kuwaiti teachers will be given a chance to either improve their competence or will no longer be allowed to teach. This drastic decision was taken after numerous talks were held about finding a solution to the problem of under-qualified teachers. Abu Hassan, an Egyptian teacher in a secondary school says that this is a very audacious step taken on behalf of the ministry. "An Egyptian supervisor wrote a negative review of a Kuwaiti teacher a few years ago, and this has cost him his job," he said.

The number of incompetent teachers might not be high, but there are a lot of teachers who come and go, spending only a few months in the teaching position. Many of the young locals, explained Abu Hassan, find the challenging job to be quite exhausting and so they resort to an easier alternative in any other ministry or government body.

Lauding the decision of the Ministry of Education, Abu Hassan noted that these measures should be taken against Kuwaiti and even non-Kuwaiti teachers. In a statement to the press, Assistant Undersecretary Mona Al-Loughani said that the ministry has organized special workshops and training sessions to help teachers whose performances were not satisfactory.

Those who have not benefited from such opportunities will not be allowed to teach," she said explaining that they have the option to be given an administrative job at the Ministry of Education instead. "Books, the curricula, methods and evaluation techniques are all important in the educational process. However, most important and critical is the responsibility of the teacher. After all, he is entrusted with our children, the most valuable asset and the builders of tomorrow's future," she said.

An unnamed source at the Ministry of Education said that the issue of incompetent teachers has been present for a while, and the ministry officials have been wanting to take action against it for a while. "While the ministry can bring teachers from abroad who have experience and good records, it chooses to reserve seats for locals who turn out to do a very poor job. This not only costs money, but ruins the education process of many students as they are not given the optimum quality of education," he noted.


Competency of teachers is not dependent on their nationality; the problem is with their willingness to improve," he added. Farah, a Kuwaiti teacher of English at a primary school said that similar action should be taken against school officials, not just teachers, who refuse to use new teaching methods. "There are school principals who kill any creativity in teachers by refusing to allow any new projects they try to implement in the classroom. Taking action against them would be beneficial," she noted.

While many of the teachers in Kuwait's schools come from different Arab countries, they usually are experienced in education, and have a two-year contract, allowing for the termination of their services once the two-year period is over. - Kuwait Times