KUWAIT CITY, July 18: Regarding the distribution of new teachers across the educational zones as part of preparations for the new school year, Minister of Education Dr Bader Al-Essa Sunday has issued a decision specifying the zones for newly employed Kuwaiti teachers for academic year 2016/2017.

The decision indicates that PE teachers living in Hawalli and Capital educational zones will teach all school grades in the Capital while teachers residing in Mubarak Al-Kabeer and Farwaniya zones will teach all school grades in Farwaniya and its environs.

Meanwhile, teachers living at Ahmadi and Jahra zones will be distributed according to their housing areas, along with art teachers in the preparatory stage and the newly appointed art teachers. The decision includes unspecified specialties, as well as laboratory attendants. In a related development, board council of the Public Authority for Applied Education and Training (PAAET) announced that a neutral committee was formed to investigate 8 members of the teaching staff who graduated from American University in Greece in 2008. It denied the number of cases is 611, as alleged by some newspapers.

In a statement, the spokesperson of PAAET Fatima Al-Azmi said the investigation committee includes board members of PAAET, representatives from the Department of Fatwa and Legislation Affairs, and Applied Education. She added the aforementioned committee will continue the work of the Fact-Finding Committee which was formed on Nov 2, 2015 upon the decision of Minister of Education.

In the meantime, Assistant Undersecretary for Public Education Affairs in the Ministry of Education Fatima Al-Kandari has clarified that the ministry has not taken any decision to transfer gay or lesbian teachers to administrative work, reports Al-Rai daily.

In a press statement, Al-Kandari denied the allegation regarding these teachers, while Human Resources Management Director Saud Al-Juwaiser disclosed the Administrative Sector has not received any instruction to refer those teachers to administrative work. He added the decision is beyond the jurisdiction of the ministry. In case such a decision is taken, the concerned teachers can return to work by virtue of a court order, he concluded

By Rana Al-Salem Al-Seyassah Staff and Agencies