KUWAIT CITY, Oct 16: With the remarkable increase in student behavioral problems, at various ages and school stages in society, and the resulting social and educational complications, the Director of the Social and Psychological Services Department in the Ministry of Education, Faisal Al-Ustaz, called for some amendments to be made to the provisions of the ministerial decision on setting the standards for social and psychological services jobs in schools, religious institutes and kindergartens, reports Al-Qabas daily.

In a proposal submitted to the Assistant Undersecretary for Educational Development and Activities, Faisal Al-Maqsed, of which the daily has obtained a copy, the professor stressed the need to increase the number of social and psychological researchers to keep pace with the increase in the number of students in all schools at all educational levels, which has increased significantly during the past fourteen years, and with it the significant increase in the number of student problems, especially behavioral and psychological, according to the annual reports of the Social and Psychological Services Department.

He indicated the administration’s keenness to keep pace with educational developments and to develop mechanisms that fit the requirements of the school and student community, hoping to get approval for the proposal and introduce the required amendments. He added one of the justifications calling for the introduction of amendments is the “significant increase in the outputs of Kuwait University -- College of Social Sciences -- female graduates of psychology, sociology and social work specialization, and their joining work as social and psychological researchers in schools, which calls for an increase in the number of female researchers’ offices due to the increase in psychological problems in schools, in addition to the increase in emerging childhood problems, especially learning difficulties, which calls for the presence of a psychological researcher in kindergartens.

The professor set the new requirement for social service jobs in schools to be approved, so that there be four social researchers in each primary school (boys - girls), and 3 in the middle and secondary levels (males and females). As for the psychological service jobs in schools, it is required to add a psychological researcher in each kindergarten, 4 psychological researchers in each primary school, and 3 psychological researchers in each middle and secondary school.