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Kuwaitis to be appointed administrators in schools

 
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The_Hanged_Man



Joined: 10 Oct 2004
Posts: 224
Location: Tbilisi, Georgia

PostPosted: Sat Jul 07, 2007 10:13 am    Post subject: Kuwaitis to be appointed administrators in schools Reply with quote

This is a rather unnerving policy decision coming from the educational ministry. It's their country and they can do what they want, but one has to wonder about the rationality of this decision in particular. I am very curious in exactly which schools would be affected by this.

From the Kuwait Times
Published Date: July 01, 2007
KUWAIT: After the ban was imposed in employing 95 expatriates in private schools, officials have put together a comprehensive program to make employment in private schools an attractive place for employing Kuwaitis as administrators during the coming period.
The program they said would qualify citizens to work as administrators or assistant teachers for all those who are proficient in the English language. The National Workers Percentage Administration Director Fayes Al- Enezi said that after the decision implemented by the Minister of Education Nooriya Sabeeh banning expatriates to work as administrators in private schools, the next step was to make use of local national staff to fill in the gap, through a program to employ Kuwaitis.
He added that the total number of Kuwaitis employed as administrators in the private, foreign and Arabic schools reached 410 employees, while expatriates accounted for 1,617. He also said that after the completion of the program, the number of Kuwaitis would be doubled. He stated that Kuwaiti teachers employed in private schools accounted for 140 while expatriate teachers accounted for 10,793. Official sources also expect that within a few years all administrators employed in private schools would be Kuwaitis.

End

http://www.kuwaittimes.net/read_news.php?newsid=ODY1NTAzMTQz
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miski



Joined: 04 Jul 2007
Posts: 298
Location: Kuwait

PostPosted: Sat Jul 07, 2007 11:08 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

It's not unnerving- I am glad if it gets the Syrians and the Egyptians out of the admin positions. They are so busy takng backhanders and ignoring complaints that it really gets tiresome. Kuwaitis may spend too much time off/drinking tea/ texting, but at least they won't need to suck up to the Kuwaiti owners . In ur school admin dept we have 5 kuwaitis, 3 Egyptians and a Nigerian. Give me the three Kuwaiti ladies any time, they actually work .
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veiledsentiments



Joined: 20 Feb 2003
Posts: 17644
Location: USA

PostPosted: Sat Jul 07, 2007 2:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Nothing wrong the idea that I see as long as they do it in the right order, you don't ban expats and then train the locals to take over. You should first train the people, and then ban expats in the positions that the locals can now fill.

Here in the US, most school administrations are composed of people who started as teachers - normally those who taught for many years. There is nothing worse than having managers who haven't the foggiest idea of how to do the job of those who work for them. Merely getting a degree in education, and a few quick management courses doesn't prepare anyone to run a school... IMHO.

What percentage of teachers in Kuwait are Kuwaiti? The first step would be to make sure that most are. And then that is your pool to train and promote into management.

VS
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canadashirleyblue



Joined: 06 May 2007
Posts: 162

PostPosted: Sat Jul 07, 2007 2:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The only Kuwaitis I ever saw working were in a government office where I had to get some papers stamped. It took about 2 seconds to do the stamping, maybe a minute to collect the cash and the other half hour for them to drink tea and chat. I wouldn't have minded had they offered me some tea!
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sheikh radlinrol



Joined: 30 Jan 2007
Posts: 1222
Location: Spain

PostPosted: Sat Jul 07, 2007 2:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The attitude of the Kuwaitis towards their work is hard to comprehend for anyone who hasn't experienced it. I once went to the Post Office in Salmiya just before 1 p.m. and found the place almost deserted. A pleasant security man explained to me that the morning staff (7a.m. to 1 p.m.) had long gone and that the afternoon workers (1 p.m. to 7 p.m.) would probably arrive at about 1.20.
I heard about Philippinos in the oil company having to work two consecutive 12 hour shifts because the Kuwaiti who was to relieve them hadn't appeared.
On my first spell in Kuwait I had a Kuwaiti neighbour in Abu Halaifa who used to drink in my apartment. He was a customs officer at a port south of Fahaheel and from one day to the next he was never sure whether he would bother going to work the following day. It depended how he felt!
Welcome to the Arabian Gulf!
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veiledsentiments



Joined: 20 Feb 2003
Posts: 17644
Location: USA

PostPosted: Sat Jul 07, 2007 3:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

My experience getting a driving license there could be the plot for a TV show... not just a made for TV movie, but a lengthy mini-series. Although my US license should have meant two visits maximum of long lines and rude clerks, it actually took 4 months and about 20 trips. It wasn't until about the end of the 2nd month and 12th trip that I finally demanded my way up to locate someone who actually knew what was up... a Kuwaiti officer. Prior to him, the desk clerk that I had waited through a line to supposedly pick up the license merely snatched my paper, smashed a stamp angrily onto it, threw my papers back at me and snarled... 'next week.' The officer finally explained that the problem was that they had purchased a new machine to make the licenses and no one had yet figured out how to run it. We shared a nice cup of tea. From then on, my trips to get my temporary license re-stamped for another couple weeks were more pleasant because I could avoid the surly bearded ones at the desk and go right to the officer.

It was little consolation to me that my Kuwaiti students told me that they treated everyone that way and they too hated to go to that office.

VS
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The_Hanged_Man



Joined: 10 Oct 2004
Posts: 224
Location: Tbilisi, Georgia

PostPosted: Sun Jul 08, 2007 5:11 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

veiledsentiments wrote:
Nothing wrong the idea that I see as long as they do it in the right order, you don't ban expats and then train the locals to take over. You should first train the people, and then ban expats in the positions that the locals can now fill.


Exactly. I work at an international school and I would have no problem with a Kuwaiti administrator as long as they are competent, hard-working, and willing to back me up in times of need. Unfortunately, I think that the chance of all of those qualities manifesting in any particular appointee are pretty slim. I fear that the selection process would revolve more around wasta than actually finding the most qualified person for the position.
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veiledsentiments



Joined: 20 Feb 2003
Posts: 17644
Location: USA

PostPosted: Sun Jul 08, 2007 2:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Through my years in the Gulf, I have worked with both local and expat management, and to be honest, the split between competent and incompetent was very close. In other words, there were so many bad expat managers that I have begun to wonder if the problem is endemic in the TEFL field.

With the good local managers, they were the first to admit that the whole wasta issue was a problem for them because it put them under a great deal of pressure to often hire people and accept students that they didn't professionally want to.

For example, Sheikh Nahyan, the Minister of Higher Education in the UAE is a well-educated, highly competent professional. But, every year back in the early '90s we would be forced to take X number of students who were significantly below the proscribed standards. It was well known that this was a 'wasta' situation, and he was unable to say no. BUT, these students were probationary and they had one semester to get up to speed in their English and normally only about 25% of them made it. The rest had to leave the college. Of course, there were sometimes exceptions made for royal family members... but ahem... GWB got into Yale and Harvard and it wasn't based on his academic qualifications which were non-existent. Laughing

VS
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15yearsinQ8



Joined: 17 Oct 2006
Posts: 462
Location: kuwait

PostPosted: Sun Jul 08, 2007 5:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

i know of a half dozen private schools in kuwait who already have kuwaitis as administrators
most are retired teachers/admins from govt schools

stop reacting like the sky is falling
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