KUWAIT CITY, Sept 16: Chairman of the parliamentary Financial and Economic Affairs Committee MP Shuaib Al- Muwaizri has confirmed the completion of reports on four bills included in the agenda of the next legislative session – increase the children's allowance from KD50 to KD100, increase the minimum retirees pension, increase the retirees loan and reduce loan installments to range from five to 15 percent of the pension on a case-by-case basis, and cancel the local agent condition for foreign companies to participate in public tenders.

He added the committee will discuss a number of bills in its upcoming meetings; such as improving the standard of living of citizens, controlling prices, protecting national wealth, writing off loans obtained from Kuwait Credit Bank (KCB) upon the borrowers’ death as it is unacceptable to pass on debts to the heirs, increasing the high cost of living allowance from KD120 to KD250 per month to cope with inflation, amending the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development Law such that the approval of the National Assembly should be sought before granting loans to any country except the urgent cases like natural disasters, mandating public institutions to obtain loans only from Kuwait Investment Authority, suspending the privatization of Kuwait Airways, and amending the Kuwait Chamber for Commerce and Industry Law.

Meanwhile, MPs Muhannad Al-Sayer, Abdullah Al- Mudhaf and Osama Al-Zaid revealed in a joint press statement that they had a telephone call with Minister of Education Ali Al-Mane who affirmed his commitment to open non-segregated departments in Kuwait University colleges when the need arises. These MPs expressed concern for the interests of the students, indicating they reject obstacles to the progress of students due to the erroneous enforcement of the Segregation Law. In a relevant development, Chairman of the Values Enhancement Committee MP Muhammad Hayef confirmed that the registration of students at Kuwait University and Public Authority for Applied Education and Training (PAAET) will continue as there will be no changes, pointing out the non-segregated classrooms are in the College of Law at Kuwait University. He clarified this was due to the error committed by the assistant dean of the college who posted his views against segregation on social media.

He added that the assistant dean promised to rectify his mistake during the meeting of the committee with Al-Mane. He disclosed that 275 sections in the college are nonsegregated, although the number of students is around 3,000; while most of the sections at the College of Education are segregated even if the total number of students is estimated at 8,000. He added the size of the buildings in the two colleges is the same.

On the other hand, MP Jenan Bu Shehri intends to submit a bill on canceling segregation in educational institutions and to leave the issue in the hands of the administrations of Kuwait University and PAAET to organize the sections and lecture rooms according to the needs and the academic criteria. MP Abdulwahab Al-Essa said the weak Kuwait University administration succumbed to political pressure at the expense of students’ interests, warning that the closure of non-segregated lecture rooms will negatively affect the students, especially those at the College of Law whose graduation will be delayed by two years if such a step is taken. By Saeed Mahmoud Saleh Arab Times Staff