The Palestinian teacher – Motivation breeds success

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I have received several replies to my earlier article which I wrote under the title ‘Farcical …’, particularly the last paragraph.

Most of these replies are negative and I understand the feelings of the readers. I have also received some positive replies and the one which touched me is the response from one of the readers, Ra’ed. He said hiring the Palestinian teachers and not allowing them to bring in their families to live with them will not bring the desired result or the aspired objectives of recruitment, therefore the Ministry of Education must consider the issue in depth.

Today the output in schools in Kuwait in general is in steady decline compared to the pre-invasion period when the atrocious army of Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait. Unless we create a similar environment (pre-invasion) not much will change. Before the invasion, a Palestinian teacher was sincere in his work because he taught the Kuwaitis side by side Palestinians and the rest of the Arabs, which means he was also conscious that he was building the future of his compatriots.

Today (even before he steps out of his house to come to Kuwait) he knows that he will not come to teach with the same enthusiasm, but it will be purely for material gain just like the others. Ra’ed said a Kuwaiti student undoubtedly benefited in the past because other Arabs also studied side by side in his school. Due to their modest financial capabilities, the Palestinians and other Arabs were more motivated to learn compared to their Kuwaiti counterparts which was a blessing in disguise for the Kuwaitis because it gave them incentive to do better, but this incentive no more exists because the non-Kuwaiti students have disappeared from public schools.

Therefore, the return of the Palestinian teacher will not produce the same quality work because he will come alone (without his family). The salary a Palestinian teacher may receive will be less than 600 dinars which will not help him support his family. To add insult to injury, he will be teaching only the Kuwaitis sans his children, nephews or nieces, so the teaching enthusiasm will not be the same. Before the invasion of Kuwait, a Palestinian teacher considered Kuwait his home and knew his stay in this country was indefinite and so lived on such basis.

Nobody said at that time his salary was draining the country’s resources but this will change now. Therefore, due to lack of loyalty to the country, he will not hesitate to accept a better salary whenever he is able to in spite of all disadvantages, especially since he will work in an unwelcome environment — unwelcome because of the position adopted by Palestinian leaders during the occupation of Kuwait.

Ra’ed went to say: “The Palestinian teacher will be forced to ride the wave and give private lessons and join those who say ‘we have to do that to earn living’.” He will do this because he will see the negativity in the behavior of those around him. He will have a lot of free time on his hands and therefore it is better for the Ministry of Education to adopt extraordinary care and be creative and give the option, for example, for the children of expatriates to enroll in government schools for a fee so that they pay the same to the government school what they would pay the private education institute.

If we do this we will create a healthy learning environment, we will be tolerant towards others, more competitive and rich. This environment will motivate the Kuwaitis to benefit and be benefited from the experiences of their colleagues.

This environment will also attract the best high-salaried teachers which will support the education system through the school fees paid by expatriates to public schools. Providing freedom to the expatriates to enroll his sons and daughters in the public schools will relieve the pressure on private schools and will lead them to improve their standards and education environment. Good proposals are worthy of study but they need to be creative, beneficial to the nation and rescue our schools from further deterioration.

By Ahmad Al-Sarraf

e-mail: [email protected]

This news has been read 6589 times!