CAIRO: The Shoura Council discussed yesterday the final concerns of the new teachers law adopted by the Ministry of Administrative Development. The law calls for firing teachers who give private lessons, instead there will be an increase in teachers salaries, says Moawad Khattab, member of the National Democratic Party (NDP) in the Shoura Council. Khattab denied to The Daily Star Egypt any final estimated percentage for the increase in teachers salaries, and indicated that the Council is still discussing the issue. Sobhy Saleh, a member of the People s Assembly (PA) affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood told The Daily Star Egypt that the law is expected to be discussed in the PA so that a final decision can be reached by next week. The opposition parties have planned a list of suggestions as an alternative to the government s suggestions. We cannot reject the whole law altogether, because the government will not allow us to do so, so we will only come up with alternatives and requests for some changes that we can pass, Saleh said. The law was discussed in the PA's educational committee a week ago and was seen by most members as being an excessively harsh punishment for giving private lessons, as most members called for a lesser sentence such as transferring teachers to administrative jobs. The law is a joke, Saleh said. The law, which Saleh also described as very provoking, will only increase the teachers salary from LE 50 to LE 80, said to Saleh. This law does not fit with teachers conditions in Egypt and the financial raise that compensates for private lessons is really low. The Ministry of Administrative Development claimed that it does not have enough money to increase the raise, Hamdy Hassan, PA member affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood told The Daily Star Egypt in a previous interview. According to Hassan, the law will undermine teachers and make their lives harder rather than give them the appreciation they deserve. The first under secretary of the Ministry of Finance said in the PA educational committee meeting that took place Sunday that the Ministry of Finance's estimated figure specified for the new law is LE 1.55 billion, reported Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper. Ahmed Darwish, minister of administrative development also indicated in the same meeting, that the total salary of teachers will eventually reach LE 547 when all regular and social compensation and raises are added, the newspaper reported. However, Darwish rejected the teachers syndicate s demand to raise the basic salary to LE 500.
