Kuwait's High School exams begin with decline in deprivation cases
KUWAIT CITY, June 12: The Kuwaiti Ministry of Education announced on Wednesday a significant drop in the number of students barred from taking high school exams on the first day of the academic year 2024-2025, for both the science and arts sections, compared to the same period last year.
In an official press statement, the ministry reported that 56 students were barred from exams this year, compared to 90 cases in 2023, representing a 37.8 percent decrease. The decline, the ministry noted, reflects heightened awareness among students and the effectiveness of preventive and organizational measures put in place within examination committees.
The science section saw the most notable improvement, with cases of students barred from the mathematics exam falling 54.4 percent, dropping from 57 last year to 26 this year. Meanwhile, the arts section recorded a more modest decline of 9.1 percent in the French language exam, with 30 students barred compared to 33 the previous year.
According to the ministry, this 'positive decline' underscores the success of efforts made by educational and administrative teams to foster a disciplined exam environment. It also highlights the impact of awareness campaigns aimed at students and teachers, which emphasized the importance of complying with exam regulations and avoiding behaviors that result in deprivation.
School administrations were credited with playing a pivotal role in maintaining discipline by enforcing regulatory and supervisory procedures, and by ensuring a calm and secure exam atmosphere.
The ministry further stated that this progress signals growing student awareness and boosts the educational community's confidence in the current academic policies. It reaffirmed its commitment to enhancing cooperation with parents and educators and to providing a motivating educational environment grounded in academic values, positive competition, and commitment.
In conclusion, the Ministry of Education expressed optimism that this downward trend in deprivation cases marks an encouraging beginning for the remainder of the examination period. It emphasized that integration between awareness and oversight efforts is essential to ensuring discipline and fairness among all students.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Kuwait Times
a day ago
- Kuwait Times
France eyes social media ban for under-15s after school stabbing
Authorities plans to ban sale of knives to minors PARIS: French authorities have announced plans to ban social media for under-15s and the sale of knives to minors after the murder of a teaching assistant by a 14-year-old boy plunged the country into shock. A secondary school pupil was arrested on Tuesday after killing a 31-year-old school assistant with a knife during a bag search in Nogent in eastern France. Friends and well-wishers left flowers and messages of support in front of the secondary school struck by the tragedy. 'We share your pain,' read one message. Laurence Raclot, who knew the teaching assistant, Melanie, said she was 'stunned'. 'She was great with kids,' Raclot said. 'In a quiet little town, we never would have thought this could happen.' A former hairdresser, Melanie had retrained and worked at the school since September. She was the mother of a four-year-old boy and a councilor in a village near Nogent. 'There are no words,' added another local, Sabrina Renault. 'It's really sad for her whole family, for that little boy who's left without his mum.' Pupils and parents were seen entering and leaving the school, where a psychological support unit has been set up. The suspect will remain in police custody for a further 24 hours, until Thursday morning, a police source told AFP on Wednesday. Little information has been released about his motive. 'Cannot wait' In the wake of the attack, authorities promised a raft of measures to tackle knife crime among children. 'I am proposing banning social media for children under 15,' President Emmanuel Macron said on X on Tuesday evening. 'Platforms have the ability to verify age. Let's do it,' he added. Backed by France and Spain, Greece has spearheaded a proposal for how the EU should limit children's use of online platforms as evidence shows that social media can have negative effects on children's mental and physical health. Macron said on Tuesday that if no progress was made within several months, then France would go ahead with the ban unilaterally. 'We cannot wait,' he told broadcaster France 2. France has in recent years seen several attacks on teachers and pupils by other schoolchildren. In March, police started random searches for knives and other weapons concealed in bags at and around schools. On Wednesday, Prime Minister Francois Bayrou's office said a ban on the sale of knives to minors will be implemented by a decree issued within the next two weeks. Speaking to broadcaster TF1 on Tuesday evening, Bayrou said that the measure would come into force 'immediately'. The list will include 'any knife that can be used as a weapon', he said. He also said parents and educators should be watching for 'signs that a teenager is not doing well', while acknowledging that there was a shortage of psychologists. Bayrou has also called for a trial of metal detectors in schools. Education Minister Elisabeth Borne called for a minute's silence to be held in all French schools at midday on Thursday to honor the memory of the teaching assistant. 'The entire educational community is in shock, as is the whole nation,' she told France Inter radio on Wednesday. Borne said she was 'open to anything' to improve safety but added that ceramic blades would be invisible to metal detectors. She also said that young people should be protected from 'overexposure to screens'. But trade unions said they were not sure how these proposals would be implemented and enforced. 'Teaching assistants have primarily educational duties within the school environment,' said Sophie Venetitay, general secretary of the SNES-FSU teachers' union. But, she added, 'little by little, we have seen attempts to turn them into security guards.' Remy Reynaud of the CGT Educ'action union criticized the government's decision to introduce bag searches outside schools. 'They increase tensions,' he said. 'School management are pressuring teaching assistants to participate in the searches, which is not part of their duties.'— AFP
Kuwait Times
a day ago
- Kuwait Times
Greta slams Gaza genocide as new convoy launched
PARIS/TUNIS: Swedish activist Greta Thunberg on Tuesday accused the Zionist entity of 'kidnapping us in international waters and taking us against our will to (the Zionist entity)' after security forces intercepted a boat carrying humanitarian aid bound for Gaza. 'This is yet another intentional violation of rights that is added to the list of countless other violations that (the Zionist entity) is committing,' Thunberg, 22, told reporters on arrival at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris after being deported from the Zionist entity. She stressed that her own experience was 'nothing compared to what the Palestinians are going through'. Of the 12 people on board the Madleen carrying food and supplies for Gaza, five French activists were taken into custody after they refused to leave the Zionist entity voluntarily. But Thunberg, who rose to fame as a schoolgirl activist against climate change and seeks to avoid flying because of its environmental impact, was deported by the Zionist entity on a commercial flight of national airline El Al bound for Paris. 'This is not the real story. The real story is there is a genocide going on in Gaza and systematic starvation,' said Thunberg. Several rights groups including Amnesty International have accused the Zionist entity of genocide of the Palestinians in Gaza. The vessel carrying French, German, Brazilian, Turkish, Swedish, Spanish and Dutch activists had the stated aim of delivering humanitarian aid and breaking the Zionist blockade on the Palestinian territory. The Zionist entity intercepted the Madleen about 185 km west of the coast of Gaza. Thunberg said what happened to the vessel was a 'continuation and violation of international law and war crimes that are being systematically committed by (the Zionist entity) by not letting aid in' to Gaza. 'This was a mission of attempting to once again bring aid to Gaza and send solidarity. And saw we cannot,' she said. She also denounced what she termed the 'silence and passivity' of governments worldwide over what was taking place in Gaza. 'There are no words to describe the betrayal that is happening every day by our own governments,' she said. Admitting she was 'desperately in need of a shower', Thunberg vowed to carry on her campaign. 'We will not stop. We will try every single day to demand an end to the atrocities (the Zionist entity) is carrying out'. Four French activists who were also aboard the Madleen were set to face a Zionistjudge, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said. He had earlier posted on X that five would face court action and only one would depart voluntarily. Barrot told reporters that French diplomats had met with the six French nationals in the Zionist entity, and that French-Palestinian European MP Rima Hassan was among those who refused to leave voluntarily. Meanwhile, hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists taking part in a convoy crossed the Tunisian border on Tuesday into Libya, aiming to keep heading eastwards until they break the Zionist blockade on the Palestinian territory, organizers said. The 'Soumoud' convoy, meaning 'steadfastness' in Arabic, set off from Tunis on Monday morning, spokesman Ghassen Henchiri told Tunisian radio station Mosaique FM. He said it includes 14 buses and around 100 other vehicles, carrying hundreds of people. Convoy members were heard chanting 'Resistance, resistance' and 'To Gaza we go by the millions' in a video posted on the organizing group's official Facebook page. Henchiri also told Jawhara FM radio channel the convoy plans to remain in Libya for 'three or four days at most' before crossing into Egypt and continuing on to Rafah. Organizers have said Egyptian authorities have not yet provided passage to enter the country, but Henchiri said the convoy received 'reassuring' information. Organizers said the convoy was not bringing aid into Gaza, but rather aimed at carrying out a 'symbolic act' by breaking the blockade on the territory described by the United Nations as 'the hungriest place on Earth'. Algerian, Mauritanian, Moroccan and Libyan activists were also among the group, which is set to travel along the Libyan coast. – Agencies
Arab Times
2 days ago
- Arab Times
Kuwait's High School exams begin with decline in deprivation cases
KUWAIT CITY, June 12: The Kuwaiti Ministry of Education announced on Wednesday a significant drop in the number of students barred from taking high school exams on the first day of the academic year 2024-2025, for both the science and arts sections, compared to the same period last year. In an official press statement, the ministry reported that 56 students were barred from exams this year, compared to 90 cases in 2023, representing a 37.8 percent decrease. The decline, the ministry noted, reflects heightened awareness among students and the effectiveness of preventive and organizational measures put in place within examination committees. The science section saw the most notable improvement, with cases of students barred from the mathematics exam falling 54.4 percent, dropping from 57 last year to 26 this year. Meanwhile, the arts section recorded a more modest decline of 9.1 percent in the French language exam, with 30 students barred compared to 33 the previous year. According to the ministry, this 'positive decline' underscores the success of efforts made by educational and administrative teams to foster a disciplined exam environment. It also highlights the impact of awareness campaigns aimed at students and teachers, which emphasized the importance of complying with exam regulations and avoiding behaviors that result in deprivation. School administrations were credited with playing a pivotal role in maintaining discipline by enforcing regulatory and supervisory procedures, and by ensuring a calm and secure exam atmosphere. The ministry further stated that this progress signals growing student awareness and boosts the educational community's confidence in the current academic policies. It reaffirmed its commitment to enhancing cooperation with parents and educators and to providing a motivating educational environment grounded in academic values, positive competition, and commitment. In conclusion, the Ministry of Education expressed optimism that this downward trend in deprivation cases marks an encouraging beginning for the remainder of the examination period. It emphasized that integration between awareness and oversight efforts is essential to ensuring discipline and fairness among all students.
