To His Highness the Prime Minister... The Future of Our Children Cannot Wait

To His Highness the Prime Minister, His Excellency the Minister of Education, His Excellency the Minister of Higher Education, and all officials responsible for education, upbringing, and human development; to university presidents, heads of educational institutions, and to every father and mother who bears the burden of their children’s future, I write today a sincere message and invitation to reconsider the greatest responsibility we bear toward our coming generations: the responsibility of shaping the human being who will shape Kuwait’s future.

I have spent years studying educational systems and their experiences, reading about the reasons for their successes and failures, and attempting to answer a major question that has accompanied me: Why do our children spend nearly a quarter of their lives in school seats, only for us to discover that many of them have not acquired the skills that qualify them for life, work, and creativity? Is the problem with our children, or with the system through which we design their future?

From these questions emerged an integrated intellectual and educational project, presented in three interconnected books. These books diagnose the reality of education and its problems, and provide tools to measure its outcomes in a different way. The first is “Education Through Which We Build the Future,” a study addressing the reality of education and its crises, its historical and intellectual roots, and discussing curricula and examinations, years of study, and teacher preparation. It examines international experiences, foremost among them the Finnish model, leading to a vision for rebuilding the educational system so that the school’s goal becomes developing the mind, personality, and capabilities, rather than merely passing exams and obtaining certificates.

The second is “Al-Ghanim’s Model for Flexible Education and Redesigning the Educational System,” which moves from diagnosing problems to presenting a different practical model. It rethinks the years of education and its pathways, proposing a flexible basic education that can extend from eight to ten years according to mastery requirements, while opening academic, technical, and vocational pathways. This allows students to discover their capabilities and progress according to their readiness, to move between pathways and return to learning throughout their lives, instead of forcing all children into a single mold regardless of their differing talents and needs.

The third is “Al-Ghanim’s Index for Balanced Education,” which addresses a highly important question: How do we know that our children are truly learning? Exam grades alone are insufficient to judge the quality of education. Therefore, the index proposes measuring five balanced dimensions: deep understanding, thinking and problem-solving, practical application, personal and social skills, and motivation and love of learning. This ensures that the success of the educational system becomes linked to what a student can understand and apply in their life, rather than what they can memorize and recall in an exam.

Thus, the three books integrate into a single educational project. It begins by diagnosing educational problems, moves to redesigning the system, and then provides a measure to evaluate its outcomes, thereby opening the path for a national educational experience that is scalable and applicable. O officials responsible for education, we do not need to add a new subject every time a problem emerges, nor do we need to lengthen the school day or increase homework and tests. Instead, we need a bolder question: Is the educational system we inherited still suitable for the world we live in, let alone the world our children will live in?

Artificial intelligence has entered the fields of knowledge and management, medicine, engineering, and industry, and has become capable, in moments, of completing cognitive tasks that used to take humans hours, days, and perhaps months in some fields. How can we continue to build schools and universities that make memorization and rote learning the core of the educational process, while the importance of understanding, analysis, creativity, application, and the ability for continuous learning increases?

I also address parents and guardians. The issue is not the number of years your children spend in school, nor the certificates they hang on the walls, but the kind of person who emerges from these institutions. Can they think independently, make decisions, solve problems, work with others, and face life with confidence and competence?

Reducing wasted time does not mean reducing knowledge, flexibility does not mean laxity, and diversifying pathways does not mean discriminating among children. Rather, it means respecting their differing abilities, providing each student with a path suited to their potential and aspirations, and investing their years in what benefits them and their country.

Your Highness the President, Honorable Ministers, and education leaders, the most dangerous thing we can do for our children’s future is to continue teaching them in the same way and then expect different results. Nations do not advance merely by the number of schools and universities they build, but by the quality of minds they produce and their ability to transform knowledge into progress, productivity, and innovation.

Kuwait’s future does not begin solely with oil fields, towers, or major projects; it begins with the mind of a child entering school today. We must either provide them with an education that enables them to shape the future, or leave them captive to a system designed for the past.

Do we have the courage to redesign our education before our children pay the price of our delay?