Kuwait schools get 20 new rules on money, photos and social media

Teachers, school administrators, students and parents across Kuwait are the ones this affects directly. If your child’s school has ever asked you for a small donation, sold snacks from a cart outside the gate, or posted class photos on a WhatsApp group, the rules around that just changed.

The Ministry of Education has released a detailed list of 20 regulations and bans covering how schools raise money, run their canteens, host outside guests, film on campus and use social media. It is one of the most wide-ranging sets of school rules issued in some time, and it touches almost every part of daily school life.

The ministry says the goal is simple: tighten discipline inside schools, make sure staff follow approved procedures, and protect the privacy of students, parents and employees. But the details matter, so let’s go through what actually changed.

How this story started

According to the Ministry of Education, the 20 rules were drawn up to regulate operations inside schools and make sure everyone, from canteen contractors to class teachers, sticks to approved procedures. The list reads less like guidance and more like a checklist of things that have apparently been happening in schools that the ministry now wants stopped for good.

It starts with money. Rule 1 bans collecting cash, gifts or donations from teachers, administrators, students or parents for any purpose at all. Rule 2 goes further, banning staff from selling or promoting goods and services to students or colleagues, or using their position or school property for personal gain. Rule 3 says every purchase, contract, payment or collection must follow the official financial procedures already in place.

Food comes next, and it gets specific. Rule 4 bans selling or bringing food and drinks into schools from sources that are not approved. Rule 5 says canteens cannot operate, or sell products, that break health rules set by the General Authority for Food and Nutrition or the Ministry of Education. This comes not long after a Farwaniya raid found nearly 99kg of bad food, and after a bakery was caught using expired ingredients, both reminders of why food safety checks matter here.

What the canteen rules actually require

Rule 6 says food can only be handed out at school events if it follows Ministry of Health Decision No. 15 of 2025, and only after checking where it came from, whether it’s safe, and how it was stored. Rule 7 goes a step further: school administrations must supervise canteens every single day, checking food quality, safety and hygiene, in line with that same Health Ministry decision from 28 May 2025 and a Public Education bulletin issued on 21 September 2025.

Rule 8 means schools now need a daily log, signed off by the principal, recording every canteen violation, including any product on display that shouldn’t be there or any worker who doesn’t meet health requirements. Rule 9 says one staff member must be assigned to report these violations regularly to inspectors from the General Authority for Food and Nutrition.

Rule 10 gives canteen contractors a real deadline: schools must warn them to fix problems within at least three working days, and if they don’t, the contract can be cancelled. For a canteen operator in Kuwait, that’s a short window to sort things out before losing the business.

Events, filming and using the school’s name

Rules 11 to 14 deal with everything that happens outside the classroom. Schools can no longer organise celebrations or events with outside guests, or allow any filming on campus, without written approval from the relevant authority first. The same goes for bringing in outside organisations or individuals to run activities. Rule 13 adds that every activity must have a clear educational purpose and must already be part of the school’s approved plan, not something added on the fly. Rule 14 bans anyone from using the school’s name or the Ministry of Education’s logo in adverts or promotional material without official sign-off.

Why photos and social media are now a bigger deal

This is likely the part that affects parents most directly. Rule 16 says photographing, recording or publishing a student’s image or personal details now needs written consent beforehand, following the proper rules. Sharing those photos through personal social media accounts or private group chats, the kind many parents use for school updates, is banned. Rule 17 adds that schools cannot link a student’s photo to their personal information, or use their image for anything outside education.

This fits a pattern this site has been tracking. Schools have already moved to limit how children’s images circulate, as seen in the recent ban on photos of kids in schools, and officials have also been investigating pupil welfare issues such as when schoolgirls fell ill with breathing trouble last month.

Rule 15 bans staff from using their official position on social media to talk about ministry matters, especially by photographing ministry buildings or colleagues and posting those images. Rule 18 protects confidential information more broadly: no leaking school secrets, documents, or details about students, parents or employees, and no asking for information that isn’t part of your job.

Rules 19 and 20 round things off. No one can issue statements, publish news, or use the Ministry of Education’s name or logo without official permission, whether on a personal page or elsewhere. And publishing rumours, false information or offensive content about the ministry, a school, students or employees, on social media or anywhere else, is now explicitly banned.

What this means if you have a child in school here

For parents, the clearest change is around photos. If a teacher wants to post your child’s picture from a school trip, they now need your written permission first, and they cannot just drop it into a parents’ WhatsApp group. For canteen contractors, the message is blunt: fix problems fast or lose the contract.

For teachers and administrators, the rules close off side income from selling things to students, and tighten what can be said about the ministry online, even on a personal account. None of this is new in spirit, Kuwait’s schools have faced growing scrutiny this year, from the new 3-day suspension for smoking to wider concerns about media rules for influencers and advertisers, but having it all written into one list of 20 points makes it harder for any single school to say the rule wasn’t clear. You can find more coverage like this on our Local news hub.

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