Political, educational, and union efforts have failed to secure a successful school year since its onset, which continues to falter under the weight of the economic crisis affecting all state sectors, including public education. Teachers are unable to continue teaching as their salaries do not cover transportation costs to schools, with the state neglecting to pay the promised raises. The manifestations of the crisis were clearly evident in the one-day warning strike announced by the directors and teachers of public schools in Sidon and its surroundings, who described it as "forced closure" due to the difficult economic conditions everyone is experiencing, particularly teachers who find themselves incapable of attending their workplaces or bearing transportation costs, let alone securing their most basic human rights.
Educational circles stated, "Forced closure is like a warning bell for the worse to come; it is the voice of suffering in hopes it reaches those concerned," noting that "the Association of Basic Education in Lebanon has informed teachers of the possibility of not attending their schools three days a week (Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday) due to transportation costs. However, they preferred to move forward with their warning, leading to forced closure for three days and then an open-ended strike until the Ministry of Education responds to their legitimate demands."
It was reported that the decision for a one-day closure was made after consultations among the school directors in Sidon, who agreed to issue a statement to avoid any confusion between the schools themselves and with the students, as well as to save parents from transportation costs without their children learning. The next step is toward another one-day closure, then to three days.
While schools in Sidon and its region adhered to the closure, classes were suspended, teachers were absent, and administrators along with some staff members were present, while students remained at home.
Hussein Jawad, the head of the Association of Basic Education Teachers in Lebanon, said to "Nada al-Watan": "We must distinguish between a general and comprehensive strike and forced stoppage due to teachers' inability to reach their schools, as they received only one salary this month ranging from 1.8 million LBP at minimum to 2.8 million LBP at maximum. In light of this reality and the inability to reach schools, we decided on a forced stoppage because we cannot bear the cost of commuting. The forced stoppage is a clear message to officials that we do not want to close schools but want to reach them by meeting our legitimate demands, the first of which is the payment of overdue transportation allowances as promised next Wednesday, such that each teacher receives about four million LBP, enabling them to get to their schools."
Jawad elaborated, "Paying three salaries (i.e., paying the salary three times) is not enough to attend schools four days a week; we need supplementary incentives for that, which were announced by Minister of Education and Higher Education Dr. Abbas Halabi, amounting to 130 US dollars. If there are no incentives, then a reconsideration of the school days is needed, indicating that we are heading toward a new evaluation. We will wait for a 15-day period for Minister Halabi; otherwise, he should say that he cannot pay incentives except for a few months, at which point the associations for basic, secondary, and vocational education must determine their position on their ability to continue or not and reducing teaching days."
