Kuwait terminates 7,019 expatriate teachers in restructuring plan

The Kuwaiti Ministry of Education has initiated a plan to terminate the services of 7,019 expatriate teachers as part of a broader restructuring strategy known as ‘Kuwaitisation’. This policy aims to replace foreign staff with qualified local graduates and reduce annual state salary expenditures by approximately 137 million USD.

The decision follows an internal audit that identified a surplus of 33,268 teachers within the country’s public educational institutions. The initial wave of terminations includes 1,551 men and 5,468 women, with notifications being sent directly to affected individuals via the government’s Sahel application.

Affected educators, including teachers from Egypt and Tunisia, have reported significant shock and uncertainty regarding their futures. The restructuring affects a wide range of subjects, including mathematics, sciences, languages, and Islamic studies. While the ministry intends to phase these cuts to align staffing with actual institutional needs, the move signals a tightening of international recruitment to only those specific subjects facing shortages.