Activists decry plans to segregate genders in universities

Gulf News 17 September 2023

In a step decried as a setback to freedoms in the country, Kuwait plans to enforce gender segregation at universities, writes Ramadan Al Sherbini for Gulf News. The latest signal for the ban came from Kuwaiti MP Mohammad Hayef who quoted Education Minister Adel Al Manea as having agreed to scrap registration for mixed lectures.

In 2015, Kuwait’s Constitutional Court ruled in favour of co-education when it explained that a law prohibiting mixing at educational institutions can be implemented merely by providing seats for females and others for males inside the lecture halls. Acting Director of the Kuwait University Fayez Al Dhafiri said the institution conforms to the application of the law banning mixing. “We are working so there is no mixing at studies unless exceptional and an actual need arises for this,” he said. “The university is committed to reviewing academic sections and cancelling the mixed ones among them of which there is no actual need of them,” he added.

Some civil society activists have sharply criticised the education minister’s reported promise, calling it “unjustified government bowing to militancy” in an issue previously resolved. “This is a setback to the course of freedoms for which Kuwait has been famous,” said Kuwaiti journalist Iqbal Al Ahmad.
Full report on the Gulf News site

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