stop working
After the statement of the Secondary Teachers Association, in which it called on teachers to “forcefully stop working on Tuesdays and Wednesdays,” criticism of this portentous decision escalated for several reasons. It is a “strike, not a strike,” because several high schools will open their doors as usual, and other high schools will close their doors, as informed sources confirmed to Al-Modon. She added that it was customary in the past to append the association’s statements when calling for a strike with a sentence calling on teachers not to attend schools, high schools, and educational institutions. While in the last statement, the League did not mention this detail. This means that neither the managers nor the professors are union-protected from the association to stop working. Rather, most of what happened was the agreement to stop forced work, to satisfy Hezbollah representatives. But the teachers will come to the secondary schools to sign attendance sheets. Therefore, the sources ask: What is the reason for stopping work as long as teachers will attend schools? As long as they are unable to go to their schools, how were they called upon to carry out such a meaningless strike?
Incentives and school renovation
Sources familiar with the incentive file confirmed that the donor countries refused to help Lebanon as long as there are funds that have not yet been spent on funded projects such as the S2R2 project. This prompted the ministry to consider disbursing the World Bank loan funds to secure incentives for teachers. The ministry encountered obstacles starting with the approval of the World Bank and the amendment of the loan law in Parliament. Even the disbursement of part of the grant in the S2R2 project, to pay incentives for two months, stopped at Article 111 of the budget in which social assistance was approved for employees. This article prevents the employee from receiving any assistance from outside the aid approved by the state and needs to be amended in order for teachers to receive incentives.
The sources add that the Minister of Education, Abbas al-Halabi, can spend $180 for each teacher, as Christmas and New Year’s Day, as happened last year, as long as the funds are secured from the grant. The minister may work to push these incentives to defuse the disputes that have occurred recently, especially since the matter does not require amending the budget law or amending the loan law, which is difficult. Consequently, the crisis is carried over to the next year, until changes occur in the country.
According to the sources, the ministry has drawn up a plan to restore 48 public schools owned by the state, on which funds will be spent from the S2R2 project, after the roof of a school in Tripoli fell. While there are actually 20 schools that need restoration before others. Not only that, but there is not a single state-owned school that threatens public safety. It is true that there are about six schools in Tripoli that need necessary restoration, but they are rented schools, and there are disputes about them with the owners, because the restoration is their responsibility.
Drive a wedge between professors
And since the ministry’s relationship with donor countries is not sound due to political differences in the country on the one hand, and because of the donor countries’ request for reports on financial transparency, the ministry can postpone the restoration of schools until next year, in return for the support of teachers and employees, to pass the academic year, the sources say.
The reality of the situation in most high schools is that there will be a general strike on Tuesday and Wednesday, but this does not mean that several high schools will open their doors to students. Although the protest movements initiated by the teachers, individually and collectively, may expand, to the extent that secondary schools in the Bekaa announce that they will stop working until the middle of next month, the weakening of the ranks of the association leads to a similar weakness among the teachers, between those who continue to stop working, and those who continue to stop working. And who goes to schools because of partisan pressure. Managers may resort to opening the way for teachers, especially contractors, to teach students tomorrow and the day after. Contractual professors are affected more than angel professors, because disruption leads to the loss of their working hours. This means that there are those who are trying to drive a wedge between the contract teachers and the angel professor, to run the academic year, while what is required is to implement the promises made by the Ministry of Education, in terms of securing incentives for teachers.