Does the ruler fit in with what spoiled his generalization?

Most Lebanese students studying abroad have not yet enrolled in their universities, after the flight of the dollar has prevented that return, while their parents’ salaries released in pounds are barely enough to rent a room in the study countries. It was assumed that this scenario would not have happened if parliamentary consultations had not flown to nominate a prime minister for a parliamentary session, which would have approved the passage of the redundant and accelerated bill of the “student dollar” (conversion based on the type of change of 1515).

The session flew, and with it some hopes that students and their families would trust … And there remains the circular of the governor of the Banque du Liban, which grants the luxury of paying fees and rent allowances to students for those whose families they have accounts only in foreign currency.
Today, representatives of the Association of “Families of Lebanese Students Abroad” meet with the Governor of the Banque du Liban, Riad Salameh, in an attempt to make the “ruler” the voice of a group of those who do not have bank accounts. in dollars, and they are “children of poor-class employees who only get paid at the end of the month.” What the association member, Shukri Hamada, says, is the father of four young people who study abroad. The association will also discuss with Salameh the details of the student dollar bill and the mechanisms for its implementation if approved, especially since the responsibility falls on the Banque du Liban to implement this law. It will be “an occasion to convey a message that the bank’s circulation is unfair and unfair for students,” according to the association member and one of its founders, Sami Hamia, on the basis that “95% of parents of students abroad do not have bank accounts to transfer and only 5% of account holders benefit from the circular. Of the financiers “.
Understanding this percentage becomes clearer when mapping the distribution of Lebanese students in universities abroad, who in numbers constitute 17,000 students. With the calculations that took six months of work, which is the age of the association movement, a clear picture can be drawn about who “the children of the poor class” are. The association divides the students into three grades: In the first, expatriate students live with their families abroad, and there are about 4,000 students, “and they have no problem,” according to Hamadeh. And in the second class, there are students who benefit from scholarships that give them the right to study abroad, and there are up to 3,000. Regarding the third grade, there are about 10 thousand students distributed between Western Europe (4 thousand) and Eastern Europe (6 thousand). In this degree we can also speak of “classes”, since Western European students do not suffer the same as “Eastern” students, since “they can benefit from a tuition of 150 euros for the majority, in addition to their benefit of scholarships during the academic year, and they also have the option of practicing Works together with their studies, ”according to Hamada. The biggest problem is in Eastern Europe, where 6,000 students depend for their studies and livelihood on remittances from their families in Lebanon. It is mainly about “children of the poor and underpaid working class who are today forced to buy dollars on the black market.”

95% of student parents do not have bank accounts and only 5% of financiers benefit from the “central” circular

In more detail, Hamada continues, they are the children of “the villages of the periphery, from Akkar to Baalbek-Hermel and the poor villages of the south.”
This particular problem “can only be solved by the bill”, according to members of the association, and is not only limited to students from Eastern Europe, but to every student who pays for their education in dollars. Therefore, the Banque du Liban is supposed to have a “job” to follow up on the implementation of the student dollar, which the people promised to issue “within a week at the latest.” This role is related to two aspects: the documents required of the students and the application mechanism. In a first part, the association asks that this step be facilitated, only “by having students photograph their university cards abroad and duly certified, provided that their families obtain a statement from the mayor that proves that they reside in Lebanon to transfer them to their children”.
Regarding the implementation mechanism, the first condition is that the relationship be direct between the Banque du Liban or trusted banks and the students, without going through the money changers “who benefited from the backs of the students”, that is, that funds are transferred “directly to student accounts”, and transparency in implementation is observed through “The direct relationship between Ahali Association and the Bank of Lebanon or trusted banks to follow up on the details of the implementation of the law”. This is what the families of the students ask for, will the Banque du Liban do them justice with a clear generalization?

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