Kuwait proposes higher fees for private school licences and education services
Private school licence fees may rise from 15 to 400 dinars under new proposal
- Under the proposal, issuing a new private school licence will cost 200 dinars for schools offering two academic stages, 300 dinars for three stages and 400 dinars for four stages, across all educational systems. This represents an increase from the previous flat fee of 15 dinars. The proposed fee for adding a new academic stage is 100 dinars.
- For the renewal of private school licences, the ministry has proposed an annual fee of 25 dinars or 75 dinars for a three-year renewal, compared with the previous fee of 10 dinars.
The Ministry of Education has completed a proposed fee schedule for services provided by the General Administration of Private Education to individuals, companies and government institutions, to regulate service charges and cover the costs of administrative, technical and inspection procedures.
The proposed fees, have been prepared for submission to the Ministry of Finance for approval before being referred to the Council of Ministers to complete the required procedures.
The new fee schedule covers a range of services, including the issuance and renewal of private school licences, approval of additional academic stages, authentication and equivalency of educational certificates, and other administrative and technical transactions.
Under the proposal, issuing a new private school licence will cost 200 dinars for schools offering two academic stages, 300 dinars for three stages and 400 dinars for four stages, across all educational systems. This represents an increase from the previous flat fee of 15 dinars. The proposed fee for adding a new academic stage is 100 dinars.
The ministry justified the new licensing charges by citing the work involved in assessing each project, including preparing technical and educational feasibility studies, conducting legal research, creating the institution’s file in various government systems and evaluating the building’s capacity. The process also includes inspecting facilities and technical equipment for the proposed academic stage, approving curricula and conducting field visits.
For the renewal of private school licences, the ministry has proposed an annual fee of 25 dinars or 75 dinars for a three-year renewal, compared with the previous fee of 10 dinars.
The ministry said the charges would help cover the costs of periodic inspection committees responsible for checking schools’ compliance with security, safety, health and educational requirements.
The proposed schedule also includes charges of two dinars for selected administrative services. These include issuing experience certificates to employees of private schools, processing requests for visits to the General Fire Force and Ministry of Health buildings, and certifying the accuracy of information in contracts between school owners and teachers.
Fees for services related to academic certificates have been set at no more than one dinar. These include authentication of transfer and academic progression certificates, certification of copies and the issuance of equivalency certificates.
The proposed schedule is now awaiting the required financial and government approvals before the new charges can be implemented.
