Six private schools had their files suspended by the Ministry of Education (MoE) for withholding the salaries of its teachers, reports Al- Seyassah daily. The ministry has started procedures for withdrawing the license of the sixth school, while the other five have paid the dues, reported the daily. The sources revealed that the value of one of these guarantees is KD 200,000
The owners of the five private schools on threat of legal measures, quickly provided their teachers with the salary payments, and pledged not to repeat the offense again. This came after the Public Authority for Manpower (PAM) investigated the violations committed by these schools of failing to pay the teachers’ salaries and took action to close the files of these schools until the salaries were paid.
The ministry will probe into any issues affecting the employees of private schools and offer solutions before taking any action, but at the same time stressed, that those who do not comply with the laws in force will be penalized. The daily reports that there is a criteria to verify complaints of workers in private schools, which includes teachers submitting a copy of the contract and a document proving previous salaries have been deposited into their bank accounts.
Since schools have been suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic, some private schools have terminated the service of their teachers to avoid paying them during the school suspension, other schools have given their staff the choice of either giving up their salaries or lose their jobs. Administrators of several private schools notified their employees by phone of ending their services, telling them they could be re-appointed if a specific date is set for resuming the current disrupted school year, or for the onset of the new year, according to a local report.
“Some schools have become unable to pay the salaries of their staff in the current crisis of class suspension and parents’ refraining from paying the last tranches of fees,” a local daily reports. Last March, the Kuwaiti government extended suspension of classes in all educational institutions until August as part of precautions to contain the novel coronavirus.
Education authorities have demanded schools not to request parents to pay fees at present and delay the issue until early next year, a move reportedly resulting in a financial problem for schools.
However, Ministry of Education (MoE) has warned that legal measures will be taken against all private schools that have not paid the salaries of their employees. In a circular sent to the representatives of all private schools, the Assistant Undersecretary for Private Education in the ministry Dr. Abdel Mohsen Al-Huwaila said teachers of private schools are entitled to receive salaries based on the private sector labor law No. 6/2010, and the amount determined under employment contracts when there are no classes including during the summer vacation.
He affirmed that the ministry represented by the private education sector will initiate legal procedures, and coordinate with the Public Authority for Manpower to take the measures against those schools that have proved to not have paid the wages of their teachers.
This is aimed to avoid breaching the rights of the workers in private schools specified under the labor laws of the private sector, and the ministry has the right to enforce administrative closure of the schools that fail to abide by the labor laws.
In addition, there is an ongoing disagreement regarding tuition fees, the new decisions of the ministry regarding the new school year and the mechanism for conducting education and work online might lead to legal disputes with owners of private schools and the MoE. The ministry verbally informed the private school owners that tuition fees will be reduced if the online learning system is implemented. Owners of private schools rejected the decisions, and highlighted that these directives were an inconvenience.
The ministry presented this solution with the hope that it would appease the school owners, especially since the reduction of fees will be offset by exempting them from annual rent payments (estimated at tens of thousands of Kuwaiti dinars) to the Ministry of Finance. The Ministry of Education vowed to push for approval of the exemption.
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