Representative Edkar Trabelsi warned of plans to merge and close a number of secondary schools and public schools, considering that they may lead to weakening public education and targeting families by placing additional financial burdens on them.
Trabelsi said that the Ministry of Education and Higher Education continues to make decisions to close and merge public schools and high schools in a number of districts and regions, from Bourj Hammoud, Hadath, and Matn all the way to the north, under the titles of “rationalizing administrative work,” “the era of expenses,” and “addressing troubled institutions.”
He stressed his support for good management and stopping financial waste, but warned against these measures turning into a cover to reduce the role of the public school and close it permanently, especially in the absence of a parallel strategic plan aimed at strengthening it and expanding its spread.
He believed that closing schools in areas with high population density, such as Bourj Hammoud and Hadath, deprives citizens of their children’s right to obtain a free formal education funded by the state through taxes, and forcibly pushes them towards the private sector, which burdens them with large financial burdens.
He added: “There is no country that seeks to build its society and at the same time dismantle its government educational structure in favor of the private sector.”
Trabelsi called on the Ministry of Education to announce a clear, time-bound strategic plan to strengthen public schools, before making any decision to close them.
He also called for ensuring that students and parents do not bear any transportation costs or additional financial burdens resulting from mergers, and to immediately reconsider decisions related to overcrowded areas, to ensure the continuation of educational service and the accommodation of all students.
He concluded by stressing that protecting the public school constitutes “the last line of defense for the dignity of families and the rights of their children,” considering that any step that does not place the promotion of public education at the top of priorities is considered an abandonment by the state of its social role and a repudiation of the constitutional right to education for all, in contradiction to the oath letter and the ministerial statement.
