Nesrin Shaheen, the head of the active committee of contracted teachers in official basic education, has called for a sit-in in front of the Ministry of Education building in Beirut next Thursday.
In a statement, Shaheen urged the contracted teachers to take to the streets and gather in front of the Ministry of Education at 10 AM next Thursday. She noted that this day would be a day of anger over the decline of the educational sector and the injustice faced by thousands of teachers left struggling below the poverty line. Shaheen highlighted that teachers from all provinces would be descending upon the Ministry to demand their rights and to uphold the dignity of teachers above all else.
Three weeks earlier, Shaheen announced in a statement the continuation of the open strike in public schools following a meeting at the Ministry of Education with the Director General of Education Fadi Yarak, the Director of Guidance and Counseling Hilda Khoury, the Director of Basic Education George Dawood, and educational and administrative directors, in the presence of representatives from the Association of Basic and Secondary Education. The statement at that time indicated that the meeting discussed the challenges facing contracted teachers and exchanged positive suggestions, clarifying that "no common mechanism was reached to safeguard all teachers' rights despite their commitment to it, but without an official decision." The statement mentioned that the teachers were asked to lift the strike in exchange for waiting until the end of the general mobilization to issue a decision from the ministry outlining compensation arrangements.
