KUWAIT CITY, Dec 8: According to educational sources, about 12,500 male and female students from families with limited income are being threatened with expulsion from their schools due to the delay of the Charity Fund for Needy Students in paying the fees on their behalf. The sources explained that the decision to reconfigure the registration and admission committee for students whose education expenses are covered by the charity fund has not been issued yet, despite the approaching end of the first semester.

By this time, it was supposed to transfer the first batch of expenses (50 percent of the value of tuition fees and book expenses) that are due in December while the second installment of the remaining 50 percent was to be paid by March 2023. The delay in issuing the decision to register and accept students in the fund so far is not justified, especially since the Department of Private Education had addressed the undersecretary of the Ministry of Education in October to approve the decision.

Registered
The administration receives hundreds of calls daily from parents of the students registered in the fund to ask about the date of fees transfer to the bank accounts of the schools to which their children are attached, as the schools have been exerting enormous pressure on them and their children to pay the due installments. Also, the sources revealed that the private and qualitative education sector annually forms a committee to supervise the review of applications submitted to the fund and determine the names of those who are eligible.

They explained that this committee will have to make double efforts this year as soon as the decision to form it is approved, as it must prepare and deliver lists with the names of students who defaulted in paying tuition fees to the special and private schools that host students registered in the fund, which are more than 50 schools. It must also include applications for the new students who wish to study at the expense of the fund.

All this requires effort and continuous work to be completed before the end of the first semester. The fund’s estimated budget for the current academic year amounts to about KD 7 million for benefiting more than 12,500 male and female students.

Their applications were accepted according to the specified conditions after submitting documents to prove the existence of financial problems based on the value of the salary, the bank account statement, and the monthly expenses of the head of the family. By Abdul Rahman Al-Shammari Al-Seyassah/Arab Times Staff