The Teachers' Union in Lebanon stated in a release that "in light of the statement made by Minister of Education Abbas Halabi regarding private schools' failure to meet their obligations to the compensation fund, the union would like to announce the following: The compensation fund for the teaching staff in private schools is on the verge of 'disappearance' if urgent and necessary official measures are not taken to save it. With it, the compensations for thousands of teachers and their life savings will be lost, and we are thus heading towards a disaster due to the state's negligence in addressing the fund's issue, the government's procrastination in supporting it, and the caretaker Prime Minister's return of the laws to the Parliament without any alternative, thereby jeopardizing teachers' funds. It is worth noting that this fund was functioning properly and regularly before the crisis, prior to its funds being trapped in banks."
The statement continued: "All compensation and guarantee funds have raised their subscriptions, especially the National Social Security Fund, in order to continue providing their services, except for the compensation fund for the teaching staff in private schools, which still collects contributions and deductions based on the old rates, specifically 6% from each party based on the teacher's salary, which ranges from 900,000 LBP to 4 million, while the minimum wage has now reached 18 million, and all funds collect their fees based on this! This means schools have resumed collecting large tuition fees in dollars, which are likely to increase next year, while they pay a pittance to the fund, bringing it to the brink of bankruptcy!"
The statement further emphasized: "We call on President Nabih Berri to summon the Parliament for an urgent legislative session to return the loan law and the teaching staff in private schools to the caretaker Prime Minister for publication and enactment, especially after the failure of the agreement between the Federation of Educational Institutions and the Teachers' Union to gather the necessary funds for retired teachers, who will unfortunately not receive any increase this month! Additionally, operating expenses for the compensation fund have become 40% of its revenue. Is this a fund for teachers' compensation or just for staff salaries?"
It also stated: "We urge the Minister of Education to name things as they are and to publish the names of private schools that have not paid their dues to the fund according to the protocol, so that public opinion understands the scale of the tragedy, and so teachers and parents can know how many schools are defaulting on payments. Perhaps these schools will take responsibility afterward."
The statement concluded: "We call on parents' committees in private schools to pressure school administrations to pay the dues to the compensation fund; otherwise, we are heading towards a disaster in private schools with the loss of teachers' compensations. This is something the union will never remain silent about, as it has been fighting for these rights for years, both before and after the economic crisis, in order to preserve the competencies of teachers in this profession and to maintain its regard and value in producing generations with excellence as it has always been."
