Yemeni cabinet approves loan agreement to establish 12 community colleges

The cabinet approved on Wednesday a loan agreement on a project of construction and equipping of community colleges worth of 17 million Kuwaiti Dinars (KWD). In its weekly meeting chaired by Prime Minister Mohammed Salem Basindwa, the cabinet instructed to finalize the necessary constitutional procedures for the ratification of the agreement, which was signed on November 21, 2013, between Yemen and the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED). It also directed the Planning and Finance Ministers to provide the government's contribution to the project's funds. The project aims to support economic and social development in Yemen, and to meet the growing demand for technical education through establishing a number of colleges, providing a qualified teaching staff and increase the number of the technical disciplines offered by community colleges involved in the project. The project targets to establish and outfit 12 community colleges in 12 governorates, including the college of Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad in Socotra, in addition to financing the institutional support through training programs for about 450 employees of the colleges' academic and administrative staff in various disciplines and fields.