Public and Private Schools in Japan and Kuwait مقارنة بين المدارس الخاصة والحكومية في دولة اليابان والكويت
Hello. It's me, Shouq. So in this post I uploaded my part of my report and presentation for an elective class called Introduction to Sociology - Summer 2017 - AUM - American University of the Middle East. Enjoy!
"What do you think is better private or public schools?" is the question I asked in a survey. Two hundred fifty one people answered the survey. 51% of them think that private schools are better than public schools while 49% of them think that public schools are better.
What are public and private schools? What are the differences between
them? Public schools are schools that are funded by the government, and most of
the time you do not have to pay money to enter them, so public schools are free
of charge. However, private schools are funded by group of individuals. Private
schools will cost you money if you want to enter them ("Private school", n.d.; "Public school", n.d.).
In this report, we will talk about the differences in education between
Japan and Kuwait.
Some of the main difference is that elementary, middle, and high schools are
free in Kuwait ("Education in the Kuwaiti law", 2015). Even though in Japan elementary and
middle schools are free, high schools are not free ("The School
System", 2013).
Some of the other difference is the number of years spent in schools in
both Kuwait and Japan. In Japan, students spend 6 years in elementary school,
while elementary school is only 5 years in Kuwait. When it comes to middle
school in Kuwait, it is 4 years; despite it being only 3 years in Japan. When
comparing the number of years spent in high school, we notice that
students spend 6 years in both Kuwait and Japan ("The School System",
2013;"Rules and regulation regarding students", 2015).
School is compulsory in Kuwait until the 9th grade and same goes to
Japan ("The School System", 2013; "Compulsory education includes
elementary and middle school, and punishment to parents if the kid did not go
to school", 2014). But that was not the case all the time. In Japan, School used to be
compulsory until the 6th grade which is the last year of elementary
school. The problem is that japan has a high rate of bullying cases. When
students are starting to go to the 7th grade which is the first year of
middle school, they will have to transfer and go to new schools for their new
schooling year. Around that time, many students in Japan ended up drop out of
school to run away and avoid bullying. Therefore, the government in Japan tried to solve
this high number of drop out students by making school compulsory until the 9th
grade. (Jiji, 2016)
There are two different schooling systems in Kuwait. The first type of
schooling is called Public school. Public schools are divided into two types of
schools as well which are normal schools and religious schools. Public schools
in Kuwait are always single sex schools. The second type of schooling in Kuwait
is private school. There are Arabic private schools and international private
schools as well. There are a lot of international schools in Kuwait such as
American schools, British, Indian, Pakistani schools and even Persian schools
as well. When it comes to private schools, there are single sex schools and
mixed schools, so everyone has the option to choose what is better for them ("Education in Kuwait", 2015).
As we mentioned earlier, there are two schooling systems in Kuwait which are public and private schools. We said that religious schools are part of public schools and that is completely true. For the sake of comparison and having accurate results, we will consider religious schools as a separate type of schooling systems here. In Kuwait, there are 1331 schools. 60% of these schools are public schools which is around 800 schools. On the other hand, 39% of these schools are private schools which are around 520 schools. The last 1% is the 11 religious schools in Kuwait. (Al-Hamady, 2016)
When it comes to Japan, there are two
schooling systems. The first one is private schools and the other one is public
schools. The number of public schools is 35475 schools which is 94% of the
total number of schools around Japan. On the other hand, the rest 6% is the
number of private schools in Japan which is 2292 schools.
("The number of private and public schools, and the number of students
enrolled in these schools", 2015)
When comparing schools in Japan and Kuwait, we notice that Japan has
huge number of public schools around the country. Public schools in Japan
represent 94% of the total schools, while it is only 60% in Kuwait. On the
other hand, Kuwait has a higher percentage of schools when it comes to private
school. 39% of the schools in Kuwait are private schools while it is only 6% in
Japan.
Throughout the research, we notice that the number of students going
to private schools in Kuwait has increased drastically the last couple of
years. A recent statistic was done regarding this problem showing why people
are starting to prefer expensive private schools over free public schools that
are funded by the government. The main reason behind that was that parents want
their kids to be able speak English perfectly fine with no trouble as they
believe that the English language is very important for their future life.
("International private schools are attracting most students in
Kuwait", 2017)
Parents are going through hard time to be able to afford these
extremely expensive private schools to provide their kids with a better chance
of speaking English fluently. The solution for this problem is for the
government to start providing a better educational system in schools where the
students get the opportunities to practice English with great teachers who are
able to deliver the lesson in the best way possible ("International
private schools are attracting most students in Kuwait", 2017).
References:
Alarab Newspaper. (2017) International
private schools are attracting most students in Kuwait.
Retrieved 19 June 2017, from http://www.alarab.co.uk/article/المدارسالأجنبية تستقط غالبية طلاب التعليم الخاص في الكويت/105322/اختيارات-المحرر
Angloinfo. (2013). The School System. Retrieved 15 June 2017,
from https://www.angloinfo.com/how-to/japan/family/schooling-education/school-system
Angloinfo. (2013). The Types of Schools. Retrieved 15 June 2017,
from https://www.angloinfo.com/how-to/japan/family/schooling-education/types-of-school
Dictionary.com. (n.d). Private school
Retrieved 16 June 2017, from http://www.dictionary.com/browse/private-school?s=t
Dictionary.com. (n.d). Public school
Retrieved 16 June 2017, from http://www.dictionary.com/browse/public-school
Hajimete Educational Endowment Insurance.
(2015). The number of private and public schools,
and the number of students enrolled in these schools. Retrieved 18 June 2017, from http://www.paci-gakushi.com/column/1179/
Alanba Newspaper. (2014). Compulsory education includes elementary and middle school and punishment to parents if the kid did not go to school. Retrieved 12 July 2017, from http://www.alanba.com.kw/ar/kuwait-news/education/456659/30-03-2014-التعليم-الالزامي-يشمل-المرحلتين-الابتدائية-والمتوسطة-وعقوبات-لولي-الامر-اذا-تخلف-الطالب-عن-الدوام
Al-Hamady,
H. (2016). 24 thousand classrooms in Kuwait. Ajial Newspaper. Retrieved
16 June 2017, from http://ajialq8.com/?p=37521
Ministry of Education. (2015). Rules and regulation regarding students. Retrieved 12 July 2017, from http://www.moe.edu.kw/student#7
Ministry of Education. (2015). Education in the Kuwaiti law. Retrieved 12 July 2017, from http://www.moe.edu.kw/about/Pages/constitution.aspx
Jiji. (2016). Compulsory nine-year school system kicks off in Japan. The Japan Times. Retrieved 24 June 2017, from http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/06/10/national/compulsory-nine-year-school-system-kicks-off-japan/