DUBAI: Kuwait private school operators have asked the country’s education ministry to conclude the current school year as soon as possible, as they expressed apprehensions parents would be reluctant to allow their children to return should classes be resumed amid the coronavirus scare.

In a letter sent to the Kuwait Cabinet through education minister Saud Al-Harbi, Omar Al-Ghurair, the chairman of the Kuwait Union of Private Schools, also called for compensation for private school owners for any financial loss if parents did not pay the remaining fees.

If the government agreed to the request, any money they receive would be used to can pay salaries, rent and other expenses, they added.

The private school operators also urged the Kuwaiti government to accredit first semester results as the final results for the 2019-2020 academic year, and ease the pressure on keeping the safety and health of teaching and administrative staff who still had to report for work.

“A survey was conducted by the union and a majority of parents were in favor of concluding the school year and considering the first semester results as final results,” the union explained.

“We had a similar successful experience on merging semesters after the liberation (in 1991) when two school years were merged into one.”

The union said that should schools resume on March 29 or if the suspension was extended until mid-April, it would prolong the school year thus increasing power consumption and negatively affecting the next academic year’s schedules.

The private school operators also objected to e-learning alternatives, claiming students were not fully trained to use the system, there was a lack of student-teacher interaction and no clear assessment and follow-up methodology to be used.