The Director of the Department of Social and Psychological Services in the Ministry of Education, Faisal Al-Ustaz, proposed to make several amendments to the provisions of the ministerial decision on setting the standards (quorum) for social and psychological services jobs in schools, religious institutes and kindergartens, in response to the increasing behavioral problems among students, resulting to social and educational complications. The proposal was submitted to the Assistant Undersecretary for Educational Development and Activities, Faisal Al-Maqsed.
Al-Ustaz stressed the need to increase the number of social and psychological researchers to keep pace with the significant increase in the number of students in all schools at all educational levels during the past fourteen years. According to the annual reports of the Department of Social and Psychological Services, this phenomenon also resulted in a significant increase in the number of students with behavioral and psychological issues.
The administration is also keen to keep pace with educational developments and mechanisms that fit the requirements of the school and student community, hoping to approve the proposal and introduce the required amendments. Al-Ustaz was quoted adding that one of the justifications for the amendments is the “significant increase in female graduates of psychology, sociology and social work specialization in Kuwait University, College of Social Sciences, and their joint efforts as social and psychological researchers in schools, which calls for an increase in the number of female researchers’ offices”. He said that psychological problems in schools, in addition to the increase in emerging childhood problems, especially learning difficulties and psychological conditions, calls for the presence of a psychological researcher in kindergartens.
Al-Ustaz set the new quorum for social service jobs in schools to be approved, so that there would be four social researchers in each primary school and three in the middle and secondary levels. Regarding the quorum for psychological service jobs in schools, it is required to add a psychological researcher in each kindergarten, four psychological researchers in each primary school, and three psychological researchers in each middle and secondary school.
In a statement to a local Arab paper, the professor stressed the importance of the role of social and psychological services in the educational field to represent an important aspect of educational work as it is integrated to achieve the comprehensive development of the learner.
According to Al-Ustaz, the Ministry and relevant officials are keen in making the school an educational environment appealing to students to achieve the highest possible benefit from the educational system. Further, he said that all specialists in the field of social and psychological services are eager to assist the school and the student community as they face various problems, by working to create a balance and invest efforts and capabilities to achieve the best performance, and work to socially and psychologically prepare the children.