Education Reforms Prepare Youth for World of Tomorrow

The Times Kuwait Report

Education is a basic human right, a social good, and a public responsibility, which is crucial to the empowerment of people, progress of societies, and prosperity of economies. On the personal level it equips people with problem-solving and communication skills, enhances critical thinking, and equips them with the knowledge that enables individuals to adapt to global changes.

An educated, skilled, and innovative workforce shapes labor markets, through increased productivity and economic output. Knowledgeable workers support technological advancements, adopt and adapt technologies crucial to competitiveness. and attract investments. An educated public creates informed, engaged citizens who demand accountability and good governance from governments, catalyze social progress and collective societal advancements.

Without inclusive and equitable quality education and lifelong learning opportunities for all, countries will not succeed in achieving all outlined UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), including reducing poverty, eliminating gender inequalities, or breaking free from the cycle of poverty that leaves millions of children, youth and adults behind in today’s world.

The multi-faceted benefits associated with quality education led the United Nations General Assembly in 2018 to proclaim 24 January every year as the International Day of Education (IDE). The day emphasizes education as a human right, addresses issues like lack of access to quality education amid rapid geopolitical, climate, and technological shifts, and, in recent years, focuses on areas like AI in education to ensure inclusive, equitable learning for all.

According to the World Bank, making smart and effective investments in quality education through early childhood development initiatives is critical for developing the human capital that will end extreme poverty and drive economic growth in a technology-driven world. At the core of this strategy is the need to tackle the global learning crisis, and help youth acquire the advanced cognitive, socioemotional, technical and digital skills they need to succeed.

The Bank points out that globally, there is a 9 percent increase in hourly earnings for every extra year of schooling. with countries having higher levels of education increasing their national GDP by 1.5 to 2 times on average. South Korea and Singapore are examples of countries that pulled themselves out of poverty and low development, to become some of the most developed economies in the world within a span of a few decades due to investment in good quality education.

As the main beneficiaries of education and the ones whose future depends on it, youth have a special role to play in shaping the future of education. But regrettably, prevailing education systems have very little, if any, input from youth in co-creating the education that meets their aspirations and ambitions, and aligned with the needs of a rapidly evolving, technology-infused labor market of today.

The dearth of youth representation in the education decision-making processes at a time of radical technological transformations, calls for a total rethink on the purpose and modalities of teaching and learning. It is worth noting that with youth under 30 constituting more than half of the global population, this demographic cohort is poised to be the driving force for sustainable development, innovation and social transformation, going forward.

In Kuwait with 51 percent of the population below the age of 30 and nearly a third of the population between the ages of 15 and 35, youth represents an influential demographic, whose voice is being listened to and acted upon only in recent years. As economies worldwide navigate rapidly evolving geopolitical and technological shifts it is vital for Kuwait to pursue a forward-thinking strategy in human resource development, focused on building a future-ready workforce by leveraging technology, enhancing AI skills, and ensuring inclusive, equitable growth.

To its credit, Kuwait has over the years invested in digital infrastructure including the latest 5G technologies in mobile communication. This has resulted in the country having a very high digital penetration rate, with the percentage of the total population using the internet (internet adoption rate) in 2025 being near universal at 99 percent, mobile connections stood at 7.89 million, and social media adoption stood at more than 80 percent in 2025, as per recent data from Datareportal.

On the education front, the 2025–2027 Education Reform Plan is the engine behind Kuwait’s accelerated academic overhauling, which reportedly has already achieved more than 60 percent of its milestones. These include curriculum updates paired with modernization of teaching modalities and learning infrastructure, including interactive screens, and teacher upskilling programs with international partners.

Curriculum updates through introduction of AI modules in Grade 10 and AI basics in earlier grades, focus on problem‑solving, data literacy, and fundamentals of machine‑learning, while weaving concepts of cybersecurity and ethics throughout the new curricula. These efforts aim to make AI learning hands-on and locally relevant, transforming classrooms into launchpads for digital careers.

The reforms dovetail with Kuwait Vision 2035 and swelling demand for AI skills, with the country’s Civil Service Commission signalling that around 24,000 new positions with a large tech component currently remain to be fulfilled. This bodes well for students who grasp AI concepts early on, positioning them for gainful employment in Kuwait’s burgeoning public and private tech sectors.

At the labor-market level, the transformation sweeping across the world from AI advancements will require significant upskilling and reskilling of the workforce to enable them to adapt to the accelerated pace at which businesses are adopting this transformative technology. Available data reveals that along with AI developments, the rising performance expectations and the globalization of white-collar work have converged to reset the rules of entry-level employment.

A recent analysis of task composition reveals that by 2030, over 30 percent of entry level work hours in organizations could be taken over by AI, leaving millions of workers redundant. Meanwhile, the rapid pace of AI implementation by businesses has created an acute shortage of talent, with a new report showing that as many as 1.6 million AI positions remained unfulfilled globally in 2025. This highlights a critical disconnect between education systems and modern workforce demands.

Kuwait’s ambitious Vision 2035 views digitalization AI development and data as strategic assets in its economic diversification plan that aims to ensure economic resilience by transforming into a largely knowledge-based economy. Government initiatives in this regard have led to digitalization of public services and significant digital infrastructure investments, in cooperation with global tech leaders, resulting in initiation of plans for large data centers, cloud and other digital services.

The World Economic Forum’s latest ‘The Future of Jobs Report’ shows that technological advancements, geoeconomic fragmentation, economic uncertainty, demographic shifts and the green transition—individually and in combination are poised to be among the major drivers expected to shape and transform the global labor market by 2030. Workplace technological transitions are already creating new jobs, transforming existing ones and making others redundant or obsolete.

In this changing milieu, balancing technology, talent and inclusion is seen as critical. Proactively training, upskilling, and retaining talent at the speed warranted by competitive, fast-evolving technological ecosystems, as well as ensuring that this transition benefits all of society through policies that promote inclusivity, are vital to unlock the significant productivity gains from AI, enhance human capital, and ensure sustainable economic growth.

Experts opine that rather than reacting to AI-induced work redundancies, nations need to focus strategies on empowering people, making training in AI ecosystems widely accessible, and supporting life-long learning. We cannot control the pace of technological developments, but we can control how we prepare people to meet it. The decisions we make today about skills and education will determine whether the future is one of continued inequalities or shared prosperity.