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With the beginning of this year, the administrations “announced” to parents that the value of the fees would remain the same as in the last school year, or with “slight” increases, perhaps “sensitizing” them to the severe economic crisis! However, it did not take into account that there are expenses that are no longer present in school budgets with the adoption of distance education or blended education (combining urban learning and e-learning). Among these expenses, for example, electricity, insurance, repairs … etc, in addition to the absence of transport allowances, overtime and bonuses for teachers outside the work quorum, which constitutes a decrease in salaries and operating expenses. Despite this, school administrations continue to work in “the same spirit in terms of inflating their budgets and looting parents with high premiums, blurring the worsening economic conditions of the people,” according to Mahmoud Qataya, vice president of the Union. of Parents and Committees of Parents in Private Schools. The latter finds no justification for delaying the results of the budget audit, especially since the accounting experts were appointed by submitting a condition book on June 30. He was also surprised that the “seizure” of the decree of the arbitration council continues, which does not require a decision from the Council of Ministers, but is only awaiting the signature of the Minister of Education and the two heads of government and the Republic, and “the result is that schools are constantly threatening parents and forcing them to pay their arrears in full last year as a prerequisite for admission. This is because “the Ministry of Education has not fulfilled its functions” and under penalty of not giving them permission to transfer to other schools.
In some schools, rudeness has led to the requirement of paying the first installment and paying the fees for stationery and other “miscellaneous” items that are not included in the budget for student tuition, despite the preference for education to distance in the first semester to a minimum. It is an option that “last year failed not only in public schools, but also in all private schools, and there is still no agreement on an electronic platform containing unified digital resources between schools,” according to Qataya.
Although the Union of Private Educational Institutions announced the commitment of the Ministry of Education directives to consider September 28 as the national day for the start of the school year, within the approved sanitary conditions, Qataya also pointed out the lack of preparation health, educational and logistics, warning that schools constitute a ‘Corona ticking time bomb, especially that wound. In one of the schools, it will lead to the registration of thousands of injured ”.
Association of Institutions: The pressure exerted by some schools on parents are abnormal cases
The Federation of Institutions is also waiting, as the educational official of the Al-Mustafa schools Muhammad Samaha said, the publication of the health and psychological protocol “that the Minister of Education promised us will be issued in a few days to strengthen health measures. in schools and buses. ” According to Samaha, there is a tendency for the union not to receive any students in attendance if the Ministries of Education and Health do not recommend it. However, this does not prevent schools that are not affiliated with the federation from opening their account and, as “Al-Akhbar” learned, students must attend two to four days a week, depending on the educational stages.
Samaha explained that the adoption of distance education for kindergarten and the first cycle of basic education (first, second and third primary education) is being discussed, and “there are educational views that deny that distance education is feasible in these two stages, which is why some procedures are studied regarding the preparation of Paper activities, without there being a final decision in this area ».
Regarding the pressure exerted by schools on parents to pay tuition fees, Samaha said: “These cases are abnormal and do not govern educational work and educational institutions. It is an injustice to generalize ”, indicating that“ what is happening at the minimum level in the institutions is to make people’s affairs as easy as possible by giving discounts and grants that were enough to close last year and start a safer new year, with evidence that the complaints were less than expected ”. Regarding the accusation of the Union of obstructing the formation of the arbitration councils by refusing to nominate their delegates, its tolerance denied it “categorically”, indicating that “we are the party most affected by the disorganization of the councils, and the matter has to to do with the routine and the government administration that does not initiate the signing of the decree, and who would tell us what they are? ” Hidden stitch in the decree ».
What the union expects, according to Samaha, is to speed up the approval of the bill presented by the government on educational assistance to the public and private sector at the first opportunity, which provides for the transfer of 500 billion pounds and distribution to deserving parents , which will facilitate the culmination of the last academic year and the preparation for the year. new.
Salama did not meet the families of the students abroad: O Student Debs …!
(Haitham Al-Mousawi)
At the last minute, the Governor of the Banque du Liban, Riad Salameh, apologized for not meeting with representatives of the Lebanese Student Families Association abroad, and ordered his legal adviser, Pierre Kanaan, to hold the meeting. The governor did not listen to what the students’ families were coming to, entrusting the task to others out of concern about the political situation. However, the association’s representatives insisted on recounting the suffering of students abroad to convey the message to Salameh. A member of the association, Shukri Hamadeh, said that the meeting was an occasion to present “the reality as it is, especially the conditions of the students in Eastern Europe”, and asked BDL to advance in the line of saving the year school by issuing a circular. However, and “despite the understanding of the matter”, the response was not as long as the waiting of the families, since the governor’s legal advisor pointed out that “the Banque du Liban cannot carry out this task because there is not enough reserve to cover these expenses “.
However, the meeting did not leave the meeting without drawing a promise from the Banque du Liban to “support the redundant and accelerated student dollar bill proposed to the House of Representatives,” according to association member Sami Hamia. This promise is supposed to translate into “compelling banks to facilitate remittances to students abroad on the basis of the official 1515 exchange rate should parliament pass the bill.”
The ball, today, is then on the parliament court. Either she passes the law and it becomes mandatory for the Banque du Liban to fulfill its promise, or students will miss the school year. Faced with these two possibilities, people stand up and the way is no longer open for a third scenario.
(News)
Independent Trade Union Movement: Hariri’s proposal is an assault on teachers
The independent trade union movement warned the political authority against the violation of the rights of retired teachers by passing bills that adopt the dictates of the International Monetary Fund (Paris 3 and Cedar 1 decisions), including the proposed law to modify the retirement conditions from private education that was presented by the president of the Parliamentary Education Commission, Bahia Hariri.
And the current saw, in a statement, that “the body of the proposal contains few pros and many negatives. The positivity lies in giving the teacher the right to receive compensation after 20 years of service, and their right to retire after 25 years of work. As for the negatives, they are represented in the assault on historical earnings, among them: reducing the value of the pension from 85% to 65% of the last salary at the expiration of 25 years of service, noting that inflation reduced by a large percentage the purchasing power of wages; Ignoring the right of teachers to six grades; Cancellation of the right to obtain 3 months for each year after 30 years of work; And calculate the exchange compensation after revoking the right of a single, divorced or widowed girl who does not work to benefit from her father’s or mother’s retirement pension upon death if she is disabled.
The current criticized what was expressed in the reasons for the proposal in terms of alleging that the compensation fund crisis is due to the high salaries of former teachers, while “it is due to the fact that private schools have not fulfilled their obligations for some time. several years, although they take away the fees they charge teachers, and the project condones this qualified theft. ” . Likewise, the proposal “encourages the expulsion of former teachers with flimsy and non-pedagogical pretexts, such as pumping new blood and invoking their inability to adapt to technological development, and expresses concern for schools and their continuity at the expense of the livelihood and dignity of the students. teachers “.
Al-Tayyar indicated that what is being prepared for private education is an introduction to its application to the public sector, calling on retired associations to avoid the passage of these projects, and threatening the Union Coordinator that “the bill is coming “.
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