KUWAIT CITY, May 27: The Ministry of Social Affairs and Community Development on Tuesday discussed the possibility of reopening private nurseries in June with its health counterpart, reports Al-Qabas daily. The daily obtained information that the two ministries deliberated on the mechanism for the reopening of private nurseries with approval of the Corona Emergency Committee in the Council of Ministers, which requested for a report on the mechanism for implementing health regulations to ensure the safety of children. One of the conditions for the reopening of private nurseries is for the owners to sign an undertaking to strictly comply with the health regulations, while the guardians or parents will sign a commitment to abide by the health regulations concerning the students. Continuous coordination is being made with the Ministry of Health to vaccinate employees in nurseries starting next week; hence, the reopening of nurseries depends on the vaccination rate among these workers and if their PCR test results show they are not infected with coronavirus.

Agreed
The two ministries also agreed that nurseries for students with special needs will be under the supervision of the Public Authority for Handicapped Affairs; which will inspect the facilities of these nurseries and give them an official letter allowing them to operate, that is, if proven they strictly comply with the health regulations. The authority should emphasize in the letter that any nursery proven to have violated the regulations will be closed. Initially, a warning will be issued to the erring nursery and then penalties will be imposed including withdrawal of the license. Undersecretary of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry Abdullah Al-Afasi submitted his resignation on Sunday to the Minister of Commerce and Industry Dr Abdullah Al-Salman, reports Al-Anba daily.

According to official sources, the Minister of Commerce and Industry Abdullah Essa Al-Salman accepted the resignation, which is supposed to come into effect in June. The minister has assigned the Assistant Undersecretary for Corporate and Commercial Licensing Affairs of the Ministry of Commerce Dr Saleh Al-Aqili to carry out the duties of the ministry’s undersecretary until a new undersecretary is appointed. The sources said, “Al-Afasi had been seeking for a long time to resign from his position but Minister Al- Salman tried throughout that period to persuade him to reverse his resignation. However, Al-Afasi was adamant this time and this prompted the minister to accept the resignation and assign Al-Aqili to take over the duties of the ministry’s undersecretary until further notice”. The sources indicated that Abdullah Al-Afasi informed people he is close to that the main reason for his resignation is that he obtained a tempting offer from a private body, but he did not reveal the nature of the job or any details about the offer.