Kuwait has started a huge job cut for teachers. Kuwait's Ministry of Education has ended the contracts of 7,019 expatriate teachers. This is the first step of a big plan to remove 33,268 extra teaching jobs in public schools. The news was given on 7 September 2026. Workers got the message on the Sahel app with the title Contract Termination Notice.
- 7,019 expat teachers lost their jobs in the first phase.
- 5,468 women and 1,551 men are part of these layoffs.
- KD 42 million or roughly $137 million will be saved each year.
The group of fired teachers includes 5,468 women and 1,551 men. Many of these teachers taught Islamic education and physical education. Other subjects like Arabic, English, art, music, mathematics, and science also saw cuts depending on the school stage and student gender. Kuwait currently has 91,761 teachers in total. Kuwaiti citizens make up 70.6% of this group. Expatriates from Arab and other countries make up 19.3%. Teachers came from countries like India, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, and Palestine. They got their notices at the start of the new academic year. One Egyptian math teacher got her notice on 8 September, just two days after coming back to school to get ready for the term.
The ministry says this first step will save about KD 42 million every year, which is near $137 million. The ministry promised to follow employment rights based on contract rules and notice times. However, losing jobs suddenly caused big problems for families. These problems include housing, residency visa status, child school placements, and travel plans. This job reduction is part of the Kuwaitisation plan. It follows an older Civil Service Commission plan to remove 3,800 expat teachers in eight subjects over five years. The ministry stated that future hiring of expats will only happen for subjects where qualified Kuwaiti citizens cannot be found. Fired workers need to check the Sahel app for details about notice periods. Regional observers think this step might make competition for teaching jobs higher in the UAE, Oman, and Qatar.
