Has the “student dollar” approval session blown up?

Parliamentary consultations to nominate a prime minister impeded efforts by the families of Lebanese students abroad to support the “student dollar” bill in Parliament. The assembly had recently extracted from Ain al-Tineh a promise to put the bill on the agenda of the mixed parliamentary committees that were scheduled for tomorrow, and it was postponed to a later date.

Although the end of the suffering of thousands of students, who are threatened with losing their future, if their families cannot transfer money and pay fees according to the official exchange rate, which is the common denominator among all parents, it seems surprising that two committees, each of which claims to represent them, attract and accuse the other of prioritizing private interests over the public interest of students, the first is “the Association of Parents of Lebanese Students Abroad”, and the second is the “Lebanese Association of Parents of Students in Foreign Universities”, which sought to create a coordination office in cooperation with the “Union of Expatriate Lebanese Students” and the “Union of United Associations in Lebanon and Abroad”. Each of the two committees attempted to obtain knowledge and information from the Ministry of the Interior.
A member of the association, Sami Hamia, told “Al-Akhbar” that the association “enjoys the trust of the majority of parents, especially in the regions.” According to Hammeh, the association has a request, which is to approve the proposal presented by the Al-Wafa bloc for the Resistance, which states that each student will receive 10 thousand dollars at the price of 1515 pounds. Although the association was pleased with the inclusion of the law in the joint committee session, Hammeh expressed surprise that no new date was set for the committee session that takes into account the start of the academic year in foreign universities the first September, especially since most students have not yet reserved their places. In a parallel line, the association took an appointment from the governor of the Banque du Liban, Riad Salameh, at eleven in the morning of noon, to discuss proposals to facilitate the registration and transfer through banks at the official rate quickly. Parents are waiting for the issuance of a new and fair circular for their children until the “student dollar” is legislated, while the association postponed the meeting that was scheduled for tomorrow also in the courtyard of the UNESCO Palace, in conjunction with the postponement of the session of the mixed parliamentary committees.
On the other hand, the Coordinator made a pause yesterday in front of the Chamber of Deputies “to approve the student dollar law and release the deposits of students and their families for the payment of university tuition. The office saw, in a statement, that the student dollar bill fell short in terms of defining it for the year 2020-2021, which means Lebanese students in the last academic year at foreign universities, as if the rest of the students Lebanese were not interested in this project, and it does not include a clause forcing banks to lift restrictions on transfers. Banking services for students who have dollar accounts, so they can further their education.
The member of the Student Parents Committee, Rabei Kanj, pointed out, for his part, that “the attempts to achieve the unity of the student movement in the expatriate countries and the attempt to achieve the unity of the parents and parents of students , dividing them and dividing them into regions, districts, sects, sects and neighborhoods, will not reach their goal, because the suffering of Lebanese students and their parents AND their families are the same in different expat countries and in various districts, no matter how some stakeholders try to do that.

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