The Secondary Education Association decided to reverse its "suspension of administrative work" in secondary schools following a meeting of its administrative body held last night, making today the first day of official registrations. However, "the return to education is conditional on a meeting with the minister tomorrow (today) and knowing the value of the incentives that the ministry can provide through donor agencies," according to a statement from the association.
Once the sessions for the budget approval in the parliament concluded, official teachers' phones started ringing. Messages, images, and speculations about the implications of the budget for their salaries surfaced. There was a sigh of relief for some educational offices with the announcement of the doubling of public sector salaries. Confusion arose over whether the salary was doubled by 1.5 times, or increased by four times based on one salary plus three additional salaries. During the night, clarity emerged: the increase received by employees in general is equivalent to two extra salaries added to the basic salary, bringing the total to three salaries, while the transportation allowance remains unchanged at 95,000 Lira for each attendance day.
#### A Meager Increase
The increase did not meet expectations, as the three salaries that teachers will receive are still below the level of inflation and the collapse of the basic salary value, which has become equivalent to 4.5% of its value in 2019, and when multiplied by three, equals 13.5%. Consequently, this increase will not succeed in compensating for the purchasing power in any form. Despite this, "educational offices are pushing political parties towards reopening schools and secondary schools at any possible cost, without considering teachers' living conditions, and obscuring the lack of responsiveness from donor agencies, so far, with the Ministry of Education to provide financial incentives for teachers to help them reach their workplaces," as stated by several teachers. Today, this topic is being sidelined so as not to distract from the main goal of reopening schools.
#### Basic Education is Active
The Basic Education Association is returning to education according to the dates set in the Ministry of Education's memos, as it did not halt administrative operations (registrations) like the Secondary Association. According to its president, Hussein Jawad, "Schools will open, yes, but what we have received is insufficient, and we will continue to demand on the basis of take and request." Jawad emphasizes that "schools will not close, and students will not be taken hostage," and regarding incentives, there are leaks suggesting they amount to $130 without official confirmations from the ministry. Additionally, it’s requested that in terms of transportation, teachers be given "a gasoline allowance for each day of attendance."
#### The Secondary Association is Divided
As for the Secondary Education Association, opinions were sharply divided during the day between the duo of Amal Movement and Hezbollah, who support the return to secondary education and registration, and other factions that are trying to find a compromise to avoid an explosion within the general assembly. Representatives of teachers press branches in the regions to reject any potential direction from educational offices that does not consider returning to general assemblies. According to Ali Al-Tufayli, the rapporteur of the association in Baalbek-Hermel, "decisions cannot be made about teachers without considering their opinions." Al-Tufayli considers the three salaries "less than the price of a barrel of diesel needed to heat every home in the Bekaa during the winter," and thus they requested to postpone the administrative body's meeting until today, until data is clarified after the meeting with the Minister of Education to know the value of incentives if they exist.
#### Payment Method
"The payment of the salary increase requires only the decision of the Minister of Finance after the budget is published in the official gazette," according to Sadiq Alawiya, head of the Legal Affairs Department at Social Security. Alawiya adds that "it is permanent and does not end with the end of the year 2022, but with the approval of the 2023 budget." As for social assistance (half a salary), "its payment will cease with the enforcement of the budget law." However, he sees "the state's duty in increasing social benefits that burden employees, such as healthcare and hospitalization," concluding that "we need economic procedures other than increases, such as a stable exchange rate."
