In a move to increase pressure on public sector workers to have their certificates accredited, the Public Authority for Manpower (PAM) is discussing with the Civil Service Commission (CSC) on how to strictly implement the new accreditation law.
The new law will prevent the employment or continued employment of any worker who has not accredited his or her certificates. Sources revealed that since most of the public sector workers who have not accredited their certificates so far are expatriates, it will be easy to terminate them.
Under the new implementation process being contemplated by the CSC and the PAM are that expatriate teachers would be given a grace period until the end of the academic year or maximum to the end of the summer vacation to present accredited certificates or face termination.
Expat doctors will be provided with even less grace period, as they will have to accredit their certificates within three months. On the other hand, expats working in other public sector entities will have to pass special professional tests set by the CSC, failing in which will automatically lead to their termination.
Meanwhile, on a related note, the Minister of Education Hamid Al-Azmi has affirmed that 6,479 Kuwaiti employees resigned from the education ministry during the past three years — with 1,780 resigning in 2016, followed by 2,489 employees in 2017 and an additional 2,210 leaving the ministry in 2018. He added that this number included those Kuwaitis who had taken voluntary retirement ahead of their retirement age.
With thousands of citizens leaving the education ministry and fewer Kuwaitis joining the sector, it is unclear what steps the ministry will take to find adequate teaching and non-teaching staff other than employ more expatriates, with or without accredited certificates.