Mp Submitted Questions To State Minister About Expat Consultants In Csc

MP Yousif Al-Fadalah has submitted questions to State Minister for Cabinet Affairs Sheikh Mohammad Al-Abdullah about the expatriate consultants in the Civil Service Commission (CSC). Al-Fadalah wants to know the number of expatriate consultants in the CSC, their nationalities, terms of service and salaries.

He also asked if these consultants provide advice to other government agencies. If yes, he wants to know the number of these consultants and whether they are receiving additional pay or not. He inquired as well about the number of expatriate consultants in other government agencies that also work for other public institutions, their nationalities, salaries and additional pay for working in other institutions, if any. In another development, MP Osama Al-Shahen has emphasized the need to replace expatriate teachers with Kuwaitis as a way to address the population imbalance issue, reports Al-Rai daily.

He urged the government to be committed to the population structure file in academic institutions, asserting this is important considering the reality shown by statistical reports on expatriate teachers. Supporting his recommendation with data, the lawmaker disclosed the statistics released by the Central Statistic Bureau in April 2017 indicated there are 3,064,193 expatriates in the country and they constitute 69.5 percent of the entire population.

He added the country has 71,014 teachers and 46,079 of whom are Kuwaitis; indicating 24,935 are Arabs and other nationalities. Talking about figures in relation to expatriate students who are studying for free in Kuwaiti academic institutions, the lawmaker called for reducing their number. He believes the government can save a large amount by reducing the number of foreign students in public schools. He said, “the average amount spent on a student in a public school is KD 4,973 annually.

Considering there are 51,378 expatriate students in public schools, the government is spending KD 253,653,186 on non-Kuwaiti students.” He pointed out that expatriate students cannot enroll in public schools unless they fall under one of the categories which have been given consideration by the State. He added, “the problem is there are more than 16 categories and the number keeps increasing.

For instance, the students born to Kuwaiti and GCC nationals married to non-Kuwaitis, those whose mothers or fathers are diplomats, those born to non-Kuwaiti prisoners of wars and martyrs, those whose parents are from crisis-ridden countries, and those whose parents are university staff, imams and muezzins. We should consider humanitarian cases only and remove others or ask them to pay reasonable fees. Such solutions will help reduce expenditures on students and improve the budgets of schools.

The lopsided population structure is a serious problem and all of us, including the government, must work together to solve it because the large number of foreigners staying in the country has negative impacts on security, economy and society as a whole.” He also urged the government to prioritize allocation of a quarter of a billion dinars (KD 250 million) annually with almost 51,000 seats for students and 25,000 teaching appointments. He affirmed this will also solve the population imbalance problem.

SOURCE : ARABTIMES

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