To prepare students to meet the needs of future workplace demands, schools and universities are encouraging the learning of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, often abbreviated as STEM disciplines.
However, Kuwaiti teachers needed to teach STEM subjects in public schools and colleges are apparently a rare breed. The reason for this scarcity is not difficult to fathom when one looks at the number of teachers graduating from teacher training institutions in the country. Last year there were iHBut this is not difficult to fathom when one goes by the results from teacher training institutions.
While there are more than 3,000 teachers who graduated in social studies, there were only three who graduated in physics. That is right, you could count the number of physics teacher graduates with fingers of one hand and still have two to spare.
Lamenting on this sorry situation, MP Osama Al-Saheen demanded that educational reforms should be implemented immediately to rectify this condition and ensure there were sufficient Kuwaiti teachers capable of teaching the STEM subjects.
But, without batting an eyelid, the lawmaker also wanted to know why Kuwaiti teachers made up only 59 percent of intermediate school and 46 percent of secondary school teachers. Well, the numbers speak for themselves.
