Many government agencies and businesses require that new employees undergo medical tests before joining, which of course is the legitimate right of any agency or business. Ministry of Education spokesman Mubarak Al-Osaimi said candidates applying for educational positions should undergo drug tests and submit the official results. He stressed that this test is mandatory. I think that tests to ascertain the qualifications of applicants seeking employment in the education, health, engineering and other sensitive positions should also be obligatory. Some professions, such as education, health and engineering, are sensitive and involve direct contact with the general public. A person applying for any position in these fields should have his academic qualifications meticulously assessed because an unqualified person can cause a lot of harm to society. I do not see any harm in testing an applicant. What is wrong with ensuring that a male or a female teacher possesses the ability and qualifications to perform his or her job properly? More importantly, we should focus on the major or specialization of a person. That is to say, a person who is majoring in geography should not be allowed to teach grammar, mathematics or Islamic jurisprudence. Education is the basis upon which a nation is built. Apparently, we have a problem here because many college graduates end up working in fields that were not their major when they were undergraduate students. I cannot stress enough the importance of assessing the skills of a teacher. Of course, it goes with saying that before asking a teacher to be innovative, we should make every effort to ensure that the school environment and curricula are also innovative.
