The Teachers Syndicate expressed its astonishment and strong surprise at its exclusion and absence from the educational meeting held in Bkerke, which included a number of deputies, ministers, and parties concerned with educational affairs. The syndicate considered this procedure a clear transgression of its pivotal and fundamental role, despite being the legitimate and sole representative of teachers in private schools, and the main pillar in any serious educational discussion aimed at developing the educational sector or setting a future vision for it.
The head of the Teachers Syndicate in private schools, Nehme Mahfouz, expressed his dissatisfaction with this behavior, noting that this surprise is the main motivation for issuing the statement that expressed the syndicate’s rejection of its absence from any matter that directly affects teachers.
Mahfouz revealed that after the issuance of the statement criticizing the exclusion of teachers from the educational meeting, the Secretary-General of Catholic Schools, Father Youssef Nasr, contacted him, justifying this absence by saying that it was “an oversight,” and that the subject of the research was “Law 515.” However, the head of the syndicate firmly affirmed to Father Nasr that this law is of the same importance to teachers as it is to educational institutions, and that the law related to the school budget directly affects teachers, so Father Nasr promised that the syndicate would be represented in the next meeting.
Regarding the results of the meeting, the head of the syndicate explained that no final decision was taken in this regard, as the matter is still under discussion even within the parliamentary education committee, stressing that this is not the right time to introduce this law, and that there are other more important laws.
Mahfouz also affirmed that the syndicate, along with other syndicates, is currently preoccupied with addressing the issue of infringing on its rights in the “Financial Gap Law,” and pointed out that there is a meeting in the Bar Association that includes all syndicates to discuss the fate of the funds of mutual support and compensation funds, because the law did not address them, considering that these funds are “as if they do not exist.” Therefore, the meeting will discuss how to restore the rights of these funds and restore their value to what it was, especially since they are retirement and compensation funds for people who have served for more than 40 years, and that “it is not acceptable for their compensation and retirement to go in this way.”
The head of the syndicate explained that the steps that the syndicates will take towards the Parliament to amend the law will be studied, and that the syndicates will do their utmost without engaging in the conflict between the government and the banks, stressing that “what concerns us is the funds of the funds that did not trade or enter into a banking game, so their funds were deducted from the salaries of teachers to secure their future.” Regarding the value of the Teachers’ Mutual Support Fund in private schools, the head of the syndicate indicated that it amounts to “1200 billion Lebanese pounds, which is equivalent to 800 million dollars at the time, as these funds have become without any value today.”
He stressed that these funds belong to “5,000 families who receive salaries from the fund,” explaining that “after they used to receive $1,500, today they receive $30 or $40.”
