The Ministry of Education sectors are seeking to speed up the completion of school equipment as plans are underway to abolish the two-group system and return to school as it was during the pre-pandemic era.
Senior education sources told a local Arabic daily that the ministry faces many obstacles in this matter; the most prominent of which is the shortage of cleaning workers since there are about 900 school buildings housing Kindergarten, primary, intermediate, and secondary students.
The sources said the Education Ministry is still suffering from a severe shortage of workers, as it has not yet been able to appoint all those who had applied for the position of a cleaner in a direct contracting manner, since only about 400 have been appointed so far.
The sources added the Ministry is facing a problem because no cleaning workers reported for work last Wednesday and Thursday, in addition to the reluctance to work by those who are contracted by the companies affiliated to the Kuwait Municipality, which put schools in an embarrassing situation.
The sources added that the field inspection of many educational institutions portray a bleak picture of these institutions which is not reassuring at all, especially that schools are facing a major problem in providing cleaning workers their wages of the cleaners which imposes a big financial burden on these schools, especially since the funds allocated to the schools will not be disbursed before next April, and as a result of this the school principals will pay these amounts from their personal account.
The sources indicated that the problem of hygiene is not the only one, as there are many schools that suffer from lack of maintenance and air–conditioning malfunction, noting that the ministry may postpone the idea of a comprehensive return for at least another two weeks, or it may dismiss it completely during the current school year.
The sources emphasized that the Minister of Education and Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Dr. Ali Al-Mudhaf will chair an expanded meeting with all senior officials of the ministry at the end of this week, to determine the ministry’s options regarding the comprehensive return, where he will see detailed reports on the conditions of schools, contracts, maintenance, hygiene and other requirements for return, noting that during the meeting it will be determined whether the ministry will proceed with the decision to return or will it be postponed?
