CAIRO - According to the schedule set by the Ministry of Education, schools are due to open their doors next Saturday September 17 for the start of a new school year that supposedly reflects a fresh revolution- ary spirit. But schoolteachers claim that they cannot manifest such a spirit when they believe that their conditions need to be “revolutionised”. Teachers unions are mobilising efforts to rally as much support as they can for a massive strike coinciding with the first day of the school year. Thousands of teachers already staged a sit-in on September l0; a week before the start of the school year, in the vicinity of the Cabinet premises, raising banners that read “Teachers without rights equal a nation with no education”. Their message was quite clear, denoting that they cannot carry out their 'sacred' message as best as they can at a time when they suffer financial and social injustice. Schoolteachers argue that the spread of private tuition in the past few years has been primarily attributed to extremely modest monthly pay. They have been, therefore, prompted, as they say, to seek alter- native means to enable them to lead decent lives. Although educational experts hold the costly phenomenon of private tuition responsible for the deteriorat-ing school performance, teachers blame the State for failing to keep their integrity intact by paying them unrewarding salaries. Teachers participating in Saturday's open strike have started launching online campaigns and distributing leaflets in places of wor- ship throughout the nation stating their demands, which not only include financial claims but request redress of administrative decisions related to holidays and the promo- tion system they deem as unjustified. Teachers working on temporary contracts have declared that they will not miss the strike, since their long-standing demand related to being appointed at governmental schools has not been effected, despite the positive response of Education Minister Ahmed Gamal Eddin. He had earlier given directives to governorates to carry out the deci- sion, which have remained mere ink on paper because of the inability of governorate budgets to bear the costs. More than 200,000 teachers, who are on contract, complain that their monthly incomes vary from a mini- mum of LE 105 (US$ l7.5) to a maxi- mum of LE 325 (US$54), which can barely buy them their daily bread. Abdel-Nasser Ismail, a representa- tive of the Egyptian Teachers Federation, told Al-Shorouq independ- ent Arabic newspaper that teachers will be present in schools on the first day but that they will abstain from holding classes. Meanwhile, Ayman el-Beyali deputy chairman of the independent Teachers' Union explained that a million person march is to be sponsored next Monday (the third day of the school year) in the case of the government continuing to ignore their demands. He explained that teachers are call- ing for a minimum monthly income of LE 1200 (US$ 200), saying that teach- ers would not rush to give private les- sons if they were duly paid. They are also requesting an exceptional allowance that reaches 200 per cent of basic salary and a fair share of the pro- ceeds of after-school groups that are legally permitted by the education ministry. According to a ministry source, only 5000 teachers representing independent unions out of a total number of l.2 million teachers across the country have taken part in the strike. This source was quoted by the local press as saying that the ministry is serious about meeting the demands of a vital sector, “as we are speaking about 45,000 schools that receive some l7 million students”.
