The Association of Contract Teachers in Public Basic Education in Lebanon issued a statement, saying: “After two months of intermittent strikes in public schools, which were accompanied by a strike by the public sector and retirees, basic education associations are still betting on the academic year and the rights of contract teachers and students.” The association confirmed that it was and will remain on the side of rights holders, and warned from the beginning of the movement against “making professors’ rights a peg for narrow interests.”
The association explained that, as an association of contractors, it demanded tenure to eliminate what it described as “the contracting heresy,” and an increase in salaries by thirty-seven times, and a transfer allowance for every day of work. She indicated that she called on the Teachers’ Association to participate with her in a unified and strong movement through an open strike until the demands were met, but the latter, according to the statement, “evaded and turned against us with the rest of the education associations, and chose to move alone.” The association considered that it would not participate in any movement that lacks a clear vision or in sit-ins with a public discourse that does not call things by their names.
The association added that it warned against reaching what it described as “prohibited,” noting that after repeated threats, some associations began searching for a way out of their movements by linking them to developments and “point zero.” She indicated that she was stressing that the budget would include a limited increase for everyone, either without affecting the academic year, or by raising the ceiling of demands to achieve rights, before some groups returned to demand a thirty-seven-fold increase and threatened an open strike.
The association continued, saying: “Today everyone reached what the Contractors Association proposed,” noting that the escalation ended with the division of official education associations and the issuance of conflicting statements. This was evident in the Secondary Education Association’s decision to grant the government a deadline and announce a strike for two days a week, noting that most secondary schools do not work on Wednesdays, which effectively makes the strike one day, with a ceiling of demands not exceeding twelve times, up from thirty-seven times. She also indicated that the basic and vocational education associations decided to strike for one day, with the options of giving the government a two-week deadline or declaring a strike for a week.
The association asked about the reasons for reducing the ceiling of demands, and the fate of the open strike, criticizing what it described as manipulation between a strike of one or two days in proportion to the holiday. She believed that the two-week deadline granted to the government falls within the framework of what she described as a “soft war,” and aims to pass mid-year exams in public schools, in addition to procrastination and searching for a way out of the current crisis.
The association indicated that the division of the associations, the reduction of the ceiling of demands, and the cessation of escalation by holding mid-year exams came amid widespread anger among the professors and contractors, who considered that the associations had exploited their rights to improve their image, while the proposed increase had been previously scheduled, and that the real objection came from military retirees who escalated their movements until their voice was heard in the parliament.
The association considered that “the most ridiculous” is the threat of the three associations to boycott the parliamentary elections and official exams, at a time when the strike was broken to hold the mid-year exams during the current two weeks.
The statement concluded by emphasizing that the President of the Contracted Teachers Association, Dr. Nisreen Shaheen, reiterates her refusal to involve public education in non-educational disputes, and refuses to exploit the suffering of teachers, both owners and contractors, by imposing intermittent strikes accompanied by letters of thanks to the decision-makers, considering that these strikes will only harm students and teachers together. The association also thanked every principal who decided not to commit to the strike and to open the doors of the official school to contract teachers and students, stressing that it had repeatedly raised its voice to save the school year, compensate for strike hours, approve a fair increase in wages, and pay contractors’ rights apart from any settlements, noting that it had conveyed its message to those concerned and received an official response that it would announce tomorrow to take the necessary measures.
