KUWAIT CITY, Aug 24: President of the Kuwait Union of Owners of Private Schools and Cultural Institutions Omar Al-Ghurair announced that the union has submitted a grievance letter to the Ministry of Education regarding the ministry’s decisions to reduce the tuition fees for all educational systems by 25 percent from the beginning of the 2020/2021 academic year and to exempt parents from paying their due installments to private and model Arab schools for students from the first grade of primary school to the eleventh grade until February 26, 2020 for the 2019/2020 academic year, reports Al-Anba daily.

Al-Ghurair said that those decisions were issued individually by the ministry without consulting the union in its capacity as the competent, accredited and representative authority for private school owners.

He considered the action as a complete disregard shown by the ministry that was not expected and came in contrary to the norms at a time when it was necessary to consult, coordinate and cooperate with the union to provide financial data and discuss the economic difficulties and challenges facing private schools following the repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Al-Ghurair insisted that the ministry should have worked on finding appropriate solutions that satisfy all parties, and developing a clear strategy that will work to enhance the process of private education and the double responsibilities that private schools are currently carrying out.

He added that the union’s Board of Directors hopes the ministry will carefully take into consideration the submitted grievance letter and review the two decisions to hold a meeting for consultation and coordination to reach the desired results.

On behalf of the Board of Directors of the union, Al-Ghurair expressed appreciation and praise for the great efforts exerted by the private school owners and their keenness to assume all the obligations imposed on them by the ministry due to the exceptional circumstances the country is going through in general particularly the educational process, which are the commitments most of which came in line with and coincide with reality and the law.

He stressed that the union will not hesitate to stand by them in order to preserve the stability of the educational process in private schools and to lift the suffering from their shoulders to run their affairs and continue the great role of their schools.