Khaberni - The Kuwaiti Minister of Education, Engineer Jalal Al-Tabtaba'i, issued a ministerial resolution to form a neutral investigative committee to look into the observations and violations that affected the practices of printing and supplying school textbooks in the Ministry of Education for the academic year 2025/2026.
The committee will review the legal procedures for these practices, investigate the contracting processes conducted with companies and printers submitting bids for printing school books, and verify the compliance of those printers with the general and special conditions, provisions, and technical specifications mentioned in the practice documents, in addition to ensuring their completion of work on the determined deadlines.
The committee will also commence investigations to ensure the printers who won the bids meet all set conditions, study the reasons for excluding some companies and printers from the contracting, and verify the legality of these procedures. It will also review the documents provided by the excluded companies, request necessary documents from them, and examine them, either directly or through appointed representatives for this purpose.
At the same time, the Kuwaiti Ministry of Education added that the committee has the authority to directly investigate any administrative or financial violations that may be revealed during the review of the documents, attributing the violations to those responsible and determining each person's responsibility according to their role. The committee may also look into any other matters referred to it by the minister in this regard.
The Ministry of Education confirmed that the decision emphasized that the chair and members of the committee are committed to maintaining the confidentiality of the sessions, deliberations, minutes, and information they access by virtue of their membership in the committee, and not to disclose any details or make copies thereof, in order to safeguard the integrity of the procedures and the proper conduct of the committee’s work.
It was noted that the committee will meet upon an invitation from its chair, and it has the authority to communicate with various ministry departments and request all documents and data within its remit. It is also entitled to summon any ministry employees, at various levels of their job positions, as needed to accomplish its tasks, and it may also on its own initiative call any employee or entity it deems relevant to hear their statements or obtain their information.
The ministry clarified that the committee has the right to seek assistance from experts and specialists as it sees fit, although they do not have the right to vote during deliberation sessions. The committee's term of operation is one month, starting from the date of its first meeting, and its meetings are held outside official working hours. It may request an extension of the term after submitting a justified formal request.
