This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS KUWAIT 000326 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA PI CATHERINE BOURGEOIS, NEA/PPD JOHN 
KINCANNON, NEA/ARP CLAIRE KANESHIRO AND TRACY ROBERTS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SOCI KMPI EAID ECON PREL KPAO OEXC XF KU
SUBJECT: MEPI EDUCATION: DEVELOPING THE PARTNERSHIP SCHOOLS 
CONCEPT: KUWAIT 
 
REF: A) SECSTATE 11812 
 
     B) 03 SECSTATE 337476 
 
(U) SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED--PROTECT ACCORDINGLY 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: PAO and APAO met with Kuwait's Minister of 
Education, Rashid al-Hamad, to discuss the MEPI Partnership 
Schools concept and other issues.  The minister told us that 
he is interested in principle in working with the USG in 
establishing 2-3 such schools in Kuwait, and said that he 
would welcome the visit of MEPI staff to Kuwait during the 
February/March timeframe to discuss the issue in more 
detail.  He also said that Kuwait along with Saudi Arabia, 
Bahrain and Yemen had signed an agreement with Harcourt 
publishers to translate science and mathematics textbooks 
into Arabic.  End summary. 
 
¶2. (SBU) PAO and APAO met with Rashid al-Hamad, Kuwait's 
Minister of Education, on January 24 to discuss the MEPI 
"Partnership Schools" initiative and the issue of 
educational reform in Kuwait overall.  The minister opened 
the meeting by noting that he budgets a substantial portion 
of his time each day for visits by members of Kuwait's 
National Assembly, who drop by to advise/hector the Minister 
on when, how and to what extent the Ministry should proceed 
with its announced plans to overhaul Kuwait's educational 
curricula and under-performing primary and secondary school 
system. (Note: Conservative members of Kuwait's National 
Assembly have harshly criticized Ministry of Education 
intentions to remove or place into a modern context Quranic 
texts that are used to support anti-western or anti-Jewish 
perspectives, claiming that such reforms are at the behest 
of the US Embassy in Kuwait.  Statements by Ministry of 
Education and other GOK officials on the issue of what 
precisely will be done to shore up Kuwait's underperforming 
educational structure have accordingly been ambiguous, and 
it appears at this point that while some steps are being 
taken to improve mathematics and science education, measures 
to address more controversial areas such as social science, 
literature and religious studies have been shelved in the 
face of Islamist criticism.  End note.) 
 
¶3. (SBU) Despite his sensitivity to criticism by Islamists, 
Dr. al-Hamad said that he was interested in principle in 
working with the USG to establish 2-3 MEPI "Partnership 
Schools" in Kuwait's public schools, and that he did not/not 
believe that there would be significant opposition within 
Kuwaiti society to such coordination. He said that he would 
welcome a visit by MEPI staff in the February/March 
timeframe.  He confirmed that there were no examples of 
charter schools or other alternative education models 
currently operating in Kuwait's public education system. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Comment: We made clear to the Minister that we 
were only interested in gauging his interest in 
participating in this program, and that we were in no way 
presenting a demarche or otherwise suggesting that his 
ministry should work with MEPI on the Partnership School 
Initiative. The fact that he seemed genuinely interested in 
pursuing this project is therefore very encouraging, as is 
the fact that his Ministry has recently announced that it 
will work with the World Bank on a six-year program to raise 
educational standards in Kuwait.  We would note, however, 
that we have seen other bold initiatives by Dr. al-Hamad's 
predecessor at the Ministry of Education melt away under 
withering criticism from Islamists, and can only hope that 
the minister's commitment will be sustained.  Post will 
continue to work with MEPI Catherine Bourgeois and others on 
this program. 
URBANCIC