CAIRO: The Educational Committee in the People s Assembly (PA) has decided to eliminate all clauses related to private lessons from the new teachers law, which initially threatened to fire teachers who give private lessons. Many PA members have previously criticized the dismissal penalty for giving private lessons, describing it as exaggerated, with most members calling for a lesser sentence such as transferring teachers to administrative jobs. PA Speaker Fathy Sorour, had said in mid-May that the new law was meant to improve teachers financial and professional status and called on the government to work on developing the educational system that will eventually lead to an end to private lessons. The new law has yet to be voted on by the PA's general committee, according to Mohamed Khalil Kwaitah, PA member affiliated with the National Democratic Party (NDP), who told The Daily Star Egypt that he has not read the law s final version with the Educational Committee s suggested changes and was therefore unable to comment. MP Mounir Fakhry Abdel-Nour, secretary general of Al-Wafd political party, also told The Daily Star Egypt that he is not aware of the updates, however assumes that compromises could have been made between the Ministry of Education, the Teachers' Syndicate and teachers to reach a settlement that could have led to this change. The crisis of teachers is part of the main concerns of Egyptian society as a whole, Abdel-Nour said. The law, which was pushed forth by the Ministry of Administrative Development is expected to increase teachers salaries by 50 percent by next July. Pundits, however, say that this increase might appear large, when in fact it isn't, because the average salary of a public school teacher does not exceed LE 150. The first under-secretary of the Ministry of Finance said during a PA educational committee meeting that took place a month ago that the Ministry of Finance's estimated budget for implementing the new law is LE 1.55 billion, reported Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper. Ahmed Darwish, minister of Administrative Development has also indicated in the same meeting, that the total salary of teachers will eventually reach LE 547 when all regular and social compensations and raises are added. However, Darwish has reportedly rejected the Teachers Syndicate s demand to raise teachers' basic starting salary to LE 500.
