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Youth at center stage in Kuwait's 2035 vision

By Abdulsalam Sallat

KUWAIT, April 19 (KUNA) -- Kuwaiti youth are at center stage in NewKuwait 2035 vision, which aims at transforming the Gulf country into a financial, commercial, cultural, and institutional leader in the region.
The government of Kuwait focused on the youth between 14-34 years old, who make up around 73 percent of total population.
The government derived its youth-oriented approach from His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah's speech at the opening of parliamentary legislative session in February 2012.
His Highness the Amir called for paying further attention to youth care, creating jobs for them and involving them in society service.
The State of Kuwait established the Ministry of State for Youth in January 2013, reflecting the government's keenness on youth care. The Public Authority for Youth and Sport was split into two: one for youth and the other for sport.
The Public Authority for Youth (PAY) is getting ready to launch a full-fledged strategy next August.
His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, at the launch of NewKuwait Vision on January 30, 2017, stressed on the importance of youth participation in the implementation of the vision towards building "the modern state which we aspire." The vision aims at transforming Kuwait into a lucrative economy driven by the private sector, as well as having encouraging legislative and business environments coupled with solid infrastructure.
The vision is based on seven pillars: global position, infrastructure, human capital, public administration, living environment, economy and healthcare.
Every pillar includes a variety of strategically development-oriented projects, one of which is the human capital which reform the education system to better prepare youth to become competitive and productive members of the workforce.
Minister of Social Affairs and Labor, and Minister of State for Economic Affairs Hind Al-Sabeeh said at the launch of NewKuwait that the pillar empowered women and youth, as well as paying further attention to the elderly and disabled.
Minister of Education and Minister of Higher Education Dr. Mohammad Al-Fares said the pillar aimed at transforming the youth center to social centers to be recreational places for families.
The Human Capital pillar includes six programs: education, labor market, disabled care, elderly care, social cohesion and empowering the youth.
The government wants to improve education to boost competitiveness, improving school management and providing state-of-art educational means. This project will cost some KD 182 million (USD 595 million).
A relevant project is the Teacher License, which aimed at maintaining high-standard teachers. The KD 2.2 million (USD 7.2 million) program will be testing 500 teachers every year and the license will be granted for those who pass.
The government will be preparing national standards for education in order to achieve excellence in the education process, improve self-learning and e-learning. The state allocated KD three million (USD 9.7 million) for this project.
Applying quality standards in school administration is one of the key projects within this pillar. The KD three million (USD 9.7 million) project will be applied on 200 government schools and 100 private schools.
The government will be implementing studies carried out locally and internationally over the measurement and assessment of education. The KD 3.1 million (USD 10 million) project will promote Kuwait's status in measuring and evaluating of education in line with international standards.
A KD 2.7 million (USD 8.7 million) campaign will be launched to encourage Kuwaiti citizens enroll in the private sector, and start their own businesses.
The government will be setting up a center to train national workforce in different sectors to honor the labor market's needs. The project will cost KD 22 million (USD 71 million).
Another project is aimed at expanding the early intervention services for children with disabilities. The KD 600,000 (USD 1.9 million) project aims at preventing diseases causing different types of disabilities.
Workshops will be held for people with mental, minor, medium and double disabilities with the objective to maintaining non-discrimination practices against the disabled in workplace. The project will cost KD 3.37 million (USD 10.9 million).
The government will build a KD 1.9 million (USD 6.2 million) center for the elderly care in Hawally Area. Another center will be built in Ishbilya worth KD four million (USD 13 million).
A promising USD 2.1 million (USD 6.8 million) social security network will be established to prevent fraud in receiving social aid, as well as transferring 1,300 male and 1,200 female beneficiaries to the labor market.
The government will promote youth empowerment, encouraging youth to practice sport activities, as well as allocating around KD 90 million (USD 293 million) to build facilities in local sports clubs. (end) aas.bs