Kuwait is set to terminate the contracts of more than 7,000 foreign teachers as part of a drive to address staffing surpluses across the country's education system.
The Ministry of Education has begun the first phase of the plan, covering around 7,019 male and female teachers from Arab and other nationalities, according to local media reports.
Termination notices have begun being sent through Kuwait's government Sahel app under the heading "Contract Termination Notice".
The move follows a study that identified a surplus of around 33,268 teachers across a number of subjects where staffing levels exceed schools' requirements.
The first phase will affect 1,551 male teachers and 5,468 female teachers, with physical education and Islamic education among the subjects facing staffing surpluses.
Kuwaiti authorities expect the measures to save around 42 million Kuwaiti dinars ($137 million) annually in salaries, while maintaining employees' rights in accordance with existing regulations.
The country's education workforce comprises around 91,761 teachers, of whom 70.6% are Kuwaiti nationals.
Gulf nationals and stateless residents account for around 10.1%, while teachers from other Arab and foreign nationalities make up around 19.3%.
Kuwait has a population of around 5.31 million, with expatriates accounting for roughly 70% and Kuwaiti citizens around 30%.
Are 7,000 Egyptian teachers being dismissed?
The announcement comes amid reports in Egyptian and Saudi media claiming that Kuwait had terminated the contracts of 7,000 Egyptian teachers.
However, the official figures cited in the report do not support that claim.
The 7,019 figure covers teachers of various Arab and other nationalities, and there are no recent official figures specifying how many Egyptians are included in the first round of terminations.
Egyptians have traditionally made up a significant proportion of Kuwait's expatriate Arab teaching workforce.
Figures from 2025 put the number of Egyptian teachers working in private schools at around 6,527, while older reports estimated that more than 20,000 Egyptians worked across Kuwait's public and private education sectors at certain points.
Egyptian teachers have also been disproportionately affected by previous localisation drives, accounting for more than 82% of teachers affected by one such decision in 2023, according to the report.
The move comes against a much broader push over the past two years to reshape who has access to Kuwaiti citizenship, public-sector jobs and state benefits.
Kuwait has stripped tens of thousands of people of citizenship, while nationality laws have been repeatedly amended. In 2025 alone, nearly 50,000 people reportedly had their Kuwaiti nationality removed.