Any solution to traffic congestion in coordination with the Civil Service Commission is being considered by education officials, an Arab daily reported, provided that it does not affect educational activities. In this regard, the Undersecretary of Public Education, Osama Al-Sultan, set the work hours for three periods in a proposal which is in view of the beginning of the current school year’s traffic congestion caused by the large number of schools, especially private schools and private hospitals in the suburb of Sabah Al-Salem. The accompanying daily traffic congestion may result in accidents and employee delays from work, especially due to the lack of parking for employees and auditors, according to the official.
The proposal stated that the flexible working system, adopted from other countries, provides solutions to the problem of traffic congestion, and may be beneficial to the public in terms of carrying out the burdens of the government job and aligning them in terms of time, place and the way work is performed according to the mechanism of the Civil Service Commission. The proposed official working hours is divided into three time periods as follows:
1. The first period starts at 7 am and ends at 2 pm and the employee benefits from the grace period until 7:30 as a reward for attendance.
2. The second period starts from 8:00 am and ends at 3:00 pm.
3. The third period starts at 9:00 am and ends at 4:00 pm.
On the other hand, Muhammad Ayed Al-Ajmi stated that the proposal guarantees adherence to the number of official working hours in accordance with the decisions of the Civil Service Commission (7 hours per day) through a flexible footprint to achieve a number of positive results, including reducing traffic jams, uninterrupted services in the educational district, allowing time to coordinate and finding a balance between work and social life reducing absenteeism, as well as the increase in productivity of employees because this flexibility provides sufficient work time duration for employees. He noted that this flexible working method using the biometric system will increase productivity in a comfortable and appropriate atmosphere for the employee, as well as reduce days of absence and allows flexible hours in completing private work and doctor’s appointments, necessary for 50 percent of the total employees so that the work runs regularly, and that the General Administration of the Mubarak Al-Kabeer Educational Zone is on a trial basis.
Sources also revealed to a local paper that the Ministry of Education focuses to this proposal, noting that the relevant sectors are currently studying it from all sides. There is also a call to include traffic awareness programs in the educational curricula.
Meanwhile, President of the Kuwait Society for Traffic Safety, Badr Al-Matar, has called to adopt mass transportation to solve the traffic congestion. He stressed that the traffic crises and severe congestion witnessed in most areas at the beginning of every school year are not insurmountable, provided that they rely on advanced and modern means of mass transportation and speed up the implementation of the metro for students, as well as for passengers, pointing to the need to spread the culture of mass transit. He also reiterated the importance of including traffic awareness programs within the educational curricula of kindergartens up to the secondary stage, in a manner that is appropriate for each school stage with the aim of instilling awareness and adherence to traffic rules among students from a young age.
Al-Matar pointed out that the idea of changing the timing of school hours will not reap any fruits, but rather will cause confusion for everyone, as well as the annoyance for parents because there are a number of children in the same school with different academic levels. He wished the students success in their educational path, praising at the same time the efforts made by the Ministry of Interior officials to maintain the safety and security of all.
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