GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — The Palestinian Ministry of Education and Higher Education on March 22 began considering over a thousand applications from Palestinian teachers seeking to work in Kuwait. According to Muhannad Abu Shama, the ministry’s director of staff affairs, 1,173 Palestinians working in the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) affiliated areas submitted applications.

Palestinian Ambassador to Kuwait Rami Tahboub had announced in October 2016 at a press conference that the Kuwaiti Ministry of Education was willing to hire Palestinian teachers to help enhance education quality in the 2017-2018 school year, given the educational qualifications of Palestinian teachers who contributed to the building of Kuwait at the beginning of its rise.

Tahboub told Al-Monitor, “The letter from the Kuwaiti Ministry of Education was sent to the Palestinian Embassy in Kuwait, and I made sure to send it to the Palestinian minister of education and higher education, Sabri Saidam, who took it from there. The Palestinian Embassy in Kuwait will provide hired Palestinian teachers in Kuwait all logistic and legal protection, among other privileges.”

Abu Shima told Al-Monitor, “The ministry stopped accepting applications for the positions of teachers in Kuwait, after having received about 1,173 applications by teachers working in the PA-controlled areas — the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. We are currently working on selecting 180 candidates who have met the conditions provided by the Kuwaiti Ministry of Education in a letter sent to Minister Saidam.”