CAIRO: The People s Assembly (PA) agreed in principle on the new Teachers law that will increase salaries by 50 percent starting next July. The new law s budget is estimated at LE 1.5 billion and will be implemented in public, private and Al-Azhar schools. The law, which was introduced by the Ministry of Administrative Development, was opposed by most PA members. The legislation is so weak, Sobhy Saleh, PA member affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, told The Daily Star Egypt. The salary increase that might appear large, says Saleh, will not in some cases exceed LE 100. On the other hand, Ahmed Darwish, minister of Administrative Development has indicated 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. The law is useless and will neither promote teachers nor improve the education system, Saleh said. He added that the PA s decision is not final as it conducted a long discussion on Wednesday to launch a final draft of the new law. Previously, the council's education committee had 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 had criticized the dismissal penalty, describing it as excessive, with most members calling for a lesser sentence such as transferring teachers to administrative jobs. But teachers see it differently. Eman Shohayeb, a former school teacher, told The Daily Star Egypt there is no law that could eliminate private lessons in Egypt. The issue of private lessons is psychological, she said, as both students and parents do not feel that exams could be passed without private lessons .
