Kuwait Education System Essay Example for Free

Kuwait Education System Essay This is a study with Kuwait in focus. Its going to analyze Kuwaiti education with regards to the following important factors, efficiency and degree of development of the education system, important changes, effects of these changes, most important weaknesses in the availability of human capital measures to overcome these weaknesses, how good the education service is available and how students from Kuwait perform in internationally comparable test scores. The paper generally to tackle the issue stated. Kuwait is a nation in Middle East. It borders Persian Gulf, which is between Saudi Arabia and Iraq. It has an area of 17,280 square kilometers and a relatively small population of about 2,596,779 as per estimates of July 2008. Most of its population is male and almost half of this total population figure constitutes foreigners. Kuwaitis constitute about 80% of the total labor force as per 2004 estimates. Almost 10% of world’s oil reserves are in Kuwait and it’s a relatively rich country. Kuwait spends about 3. 8% of it’s GDP on education. Also literacy levels stand at very high percentages for instance 93. 3%. Male literacy is higher at 94. 4%compared to female’s 91% as per 2005 estimates. (The World Fact Book, 2008) Before tackling various issues concerning education it’s good to have a historical background of the same. Kuwaiti educational system development is largely attributed to the richness of the nation courtesy of oil exportation. In the early 1990s educational facilities were quite few in Kuwait. The schools that were there were Quranic schools called al-katabibs. The Quranic schools taught arithmetic, reading and writing. Public education was non existent in the earlier part pf the 20th century and thus, funds to education came from wealthier nationals. The government took over the educational system in the year 1939and by 1945 it had begun 17 schools. After the WWII when oil production started to pick up, the government also raised the stake of its revenue that went to education. In 1960s Kuwait had 45000 students in its educational system which 18000 were female. Major development in education also happened in the 1960s and in 1965 schooling was made compulsory in Kuwait (Kuwait Cultural Office, 2008) The efficiency of the Kuwaiti educational system is explained as follows: today in Kuwait there are about 500,000 students in school, which is about 30% of its total population. There are three levels of education in Kuwait and each one of them takes duration of four years to complete. These levels include elementary, intermediate and secondary. Attending school is compulsory for children in the age bracket of six to fourteen years. All these stages of Kuwaiti educational system are free. From second grade in school, children in Kuwait start studying English language. Kuwaiti parents send most of their children to foreign private schools established in Kuwait. These private schools are usually very prestigious. For example American school of Kuwait. Also this private education, though not fully funded by the state is highly subsidized besides allotment of land for construction of schools and issuance of textbooks. Public schools in Kuwait are a bit different compared to private schools since from first grade, there’s segregation of children by sex. Kuwait also ensures equity of education offered to women with that of men. For example the 1989 education initiative, where there was introduction of daytime literacy clinics to benefit women. Kuwaiti government also makes sure that every new school has a library with an expansive book collection. The government also established an â€Å"education Net† which was a project to link each and every government school and library to a telecommunications data network (Kuwait cultural office, 2008) To explain the various important changes and their effects, an overview on the education system of Kuwait will cover from 1900s. In the early of the 20th century education was aimed at gaining basic literacy and this was in context of religion. The existing schools then were quran schools. Wealthier people sent their children abroad for higher education in around 1912 merchants who were interested in their children’s (especially sons) education started private schools. For instance, mubara kiyya school, which was the first modern institution of education. Later on in 1921, another notable private school was established by the name ahmadiyya school and which was the first to offer English as a subject. Shortly after 1921 the first girl’s school was established and it taught home economics, Islamic studies and Arabic. Education was later put under state control in 1939. Teachers from Palestine started a mission for education which had students being sent abroad for education and also started new schools. As a result, four elementary schools started. An overall national department of education to govern government schools and teachers from Palestine, Syria, Iraq Lebanon and Egypt started a program to ensure secondary education in Kuwait. In around 1945 there were 17 schools in Kuwait. Later in the 1950s rapid changes occurred. for example, the founding of the first kindergarten schools and a first technical college in the academic year 1954-55. 80 students were enrolled in this college in the first year. In 1956 the institute for the blind was established. Later on in 1958 an adult education program was started for men. On to 1960s in i1963 an adult education program was started for women. By the year 1970 there were 738,662students in Kuwaiti schools where less than half were Kuwaiti nationals. In 1973 there were 1,644 special needs students and 11 institutes of the special education. Since it’s initiation in 1956. Jumping to 1982, the number of teachers was a bit high at 24,367 of whom 6,748 only were Kuwaiti. By the academic year 1997-98 the number of teachers was 27,359 of which 17,357 were Kuwaiti. This changed from 1: 3. 76 in 1982 to 1. 7:1 in 1997-98 academic years. Today the government provides a kitty for each of the education levels in Kuwait namely, elementary, intermediate and secondary school. Another important change is that at university level, a university was established and which was called Kuwait University with the majority of the student body being made up of Kuwaiti. (State University. com, 2008) Kuwait is highly reliable on foreign countries for human capital and thus the problem of human capital in Kuwait. Human capital is a country’s stock of knowledge and skills and it constitutes the skilled labor in the economy. Kuwaiti labor force is dominated by non-nationals. There was especially an influx of foreign laborers in Kuwait in the 1970’s. Kuwaitis relied at high levels on the labor of expatriates who had high morale from their countries. Kuwaitis have thus become minorities in their own home due to high dependence on foreign skilled labor for both private and public sectors. Unemployed nationals of Kuwait as well as nominally employed ones over-rely on the state for easy jobs and welfare. Foreigners are also seen to influence the traditions and cultures of Kuwait. Real employment may also be desired but hardly attainable due to the set social system where nationals lack the skills to fit in the labor market. To remove the dilemma set by this predicament Kuwaitis thus have to think in the lines of the following solutions: practical education to be offered to nation and that befits the national requirements of the labor market, reduction in the number of work visas issued to foreigners and leveling the wage differences between citizens and non-citizens. Some international assessments have been carried out on Kuwait education system. The factors in consideration are schools self-evaluation, and evaluation of teachers. There was a particular study carried out due to low secondary school student participation rates where completion rates were low, repetition was high besides the high drop-out rates. Also students’ achievements even after high school education are considered as those which are disappointing. This was considered true especially because Kuwait students performed dismally in international assessments of student achievement. To conclude on the study, even though, the government of Kuwait has done a giant leap toward development of its education, a lot remains undone. In focus should be the global applicability of Kuwaitis education and also at national levels. Since today’s labor force constitutes about 80% non-nationals, practicability and fitness of the Kuwaiti education should also be among the major issues that require speedy resolution. Generally to ensure this are there from the findings in this study. So the government’s ministry of education needs to invest a lot on issues to do with Research and Development as regards issues of practical educational development. Incentives to nationals should also be created to take courses at the university level that are similar to those of the non-nationals’ expatriate staff by even making it more interesting and exciting. More students should also get involved on exchange programs with other students in economies which are performing highly and through their human capital. References Hladczuk, J and Eller, W. 1992. International Handbook of Reading Education Greenwood Publishing Group Kellaghan, T. 2008. Developing Assessment Ca pacityIn The Kuwait Education System. Retrieved on October 25, 2008 from http://www. moe. edu. kw/pages/misc/wathaeg%20feb%202008/wathaeg%20almoa shr%20alwa6ani%2017-19feb%202008/Kalaghan_Report1. doc. pdf Kuwait Cultural Office. 2008. History. Retrieved on October 25, 2008 from http://www. kuwaitculture. com/About%20Us/History. htm State University. Com, 2008. Education In Kuwait- An Overview. . Retrieved on October 25, 2008 from http://education. stateuniversity. com/pages/784/Kuwait- EDUCATIONAL-SYSTEM-OVERVIEW. html The world fact book, 2008. Kuwait. Retrieved on October 25, 2008 from https://www. cia. gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ku. html