Why did Kuwait transfer 8,703 teachers? Here is what Education Ministry has to say
Ministry of Education has raised the proportion of schools with balanced teaching and supervisory staff from 32 percent to 82 percent after implementing 8,703 transfer decisions, with the remaining imbalances requiring time and the opening of new schools, Assistant Undersecretary for Educational Affairs Hamad Al-Hamad said.
Al-Hamad said the ministry identified major discrepancies in staffing records, with four data sources producing figures ranging from 91,000 to 106,000 teachers. A review established the actual workforce at 91,982 teachers serving 423,500 students across 984 schools.
The scale of the imbalance was evident in individual schools. One kindergarten had 57 children and 36 teachers across four classes, while another had no technical supervisor compared with 12 in a kindergarten in the same educational district. A school in Ahmadi had 66 Islamic education teachers against an actual requirement of 11, leaving a surplus of 55. Another religious institute had 12 decoration teachers despite not teaching the subject.
The ministry has introduced an electronic system linking teacher and student records to calculate staffing requirements by school, class and subject. It automatically rejects transfer requests when a school already has sufficient teachers. Staffing needs are reviewed each semester to account for retirements, new appointments and changing student numbers.
Transfers prioritize the most recently appointed teachers, while supervisory transfers prioritize those most recently promoted. The average distance between a teacher’s former and new schools was 11.2 kilometers, although some transfers exceeded 20 kilometers.
Teachers with humanitarian or exceptional circumstances can submit grievances through the ministry’s website, attaching supporting documents in PDF format. A committee will review the cases, including requests based on distance and family-care responsibilities.
Al-Hamad also said the ministry had contacted Kuwait University’s College of Education and the College of Basic Education to suspend admissions in specializations with significant surpluses, including Islamic education and physical education, until the situation improves.
He denied reports that a teacher had been transferred to Al-Zuhour Kindergarten, saying no such transfers had taken place from January 1, 2026, until the date of the interview. He urged the public to rely on official sources. The ministry said the remaining 18 percent of schools require further adjustments, including the opening of new schools to accommodate surplus teachers.
Al-Hamad stressed that the objective is to ensure every student has a teacher for every subject while creating a more balanced and stable school environment.
