KUWAIT CITY, Nov 11: Minister of Education Eng. Sayed Jalal Al- Tabtabaei issued a decree approving the amendment of the organizational structure of his ministry. The decree introduces administrative changes aimed at curbing bureaucracy, redistributing competencies and responsibilities, and merging similar departments and units in a bid to optimize human resource utilization and raise operational efficiency. Under the new structure, the number of general manager positions will be reduced from 14 to 10- a decline of around 28.6 percent. The number of department manager positions will drop from 72 to 63, administrative supervisor positions from 260 to 197 and section head positions from 482 to 331. The total number of positions will decrease from 845 to 613—a reduction of 232 or 27.5 percent. The ministry stated that the objective is to build a stronger administrative structure that streamlines supervisory posts and distributes workload and responsibilities equally. It affirmed that the amendments were made after a thorough review of how the previous structure functioned, while the feedback and proposals of employees in various sectors were taken into consideration.
It disclosed that the changes aim to simplify procedures, reduce administrative layers, accelerate decision- making, solidify lines of supervision and reporting, eliminate task duplication, minimize overlapping between departments, and improve educational and administrative services. Moreover, the number of general departments in the public education sector was reduced to five. Religious education and special education were integrated under the Public Education General Department to unify oversight and strengthen coordination among educational streams. The supervision of examinations and student affairs, including their respective departments, were returned to the educational districts. This move aims to bring functions closer to the field, ease the monitoring of student affairs and examinations, and standardize operational procedures in the districts. The oversight of activities, libraries and educational technologies was transferred to the Educational Support Services General Department, hence ensuring unified supervision of services provided to schools. The Administrative, Financial and Technical Affairs Sector was streamlined into five general departments. Financial affairs, procurement and warehousing are now under one department; human resources and general services were combined, and development, planning and quality were merged.
The Facilities and Projects Department and the Technology and Information Systems Department were retained, reflecting the continuous focus on the development of educational infrastructure and push for digital transformation. The ministry explained that this move is not just about rearranging titles or reducing supervisory roles, as the main objective is to establish a more efficient and flexible administrative model in line with the educational development requirements to boost productivity and put qualified personnel in positions that best meet operational needs. The decision mandates all the concerned entities to implement the amendment, which shall take effect upon approval of the revised specialization profiles and completion of the placement of personnel within the integrated civil service systems. Any prior decision that conflicts with this directive shall be repealed, making the revised structure the unified reference for organizing work in the ministry. The ministry affirmed that it will continue to review organizational structures and evaluate the efficiency of their implementation in line with the operational requirements and performance indicators.
