Bahrain's Education Minister Muhammad Jassim al-Ghatam said Monday, September 2, his ministry had found jobs for 900 unemployed national graduates, mainly as teachers.
In a statement published by Akhbar Al-Khaleej, Ghatam said the ministry had "decided to take on 900 candidates as teachers or in other jobs." The ministry was ready for talks to settle the problems of unemployed Bahraini graduates looking for work, he stressed.
Around 100 Bahrainis, mostly graduate teachers who had never been employed, held a peaceful sit-in protest on Saturday demanding the "nationalization" of the sector's workforce and a meeting with Ghatam. They said they would hold another sit-in in one week.
Members of Bahrain's consultative council estimate the unemployment figure at 25 percent, or between 20,000 and 30,000 Bahrainis from a mostly young population who account for 60 percent of the country's 700,000 residents. — (AFP, Manama)
© Agence France Presse 2001
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
