Abdul Aziz calls for return to classes and halt to salaries of those “sitting at home”
He accuses unnamed parties of leading a “conspiracy” to disrupt education and proposes a Saturday protest for teachers’ rights
LIBYA – Mahmoud Abdul Aziz, a member of the General National Congress since 2012 and a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, has called for classes to resume and pupils to return to their desks, alongside demands for teachers’ rights and better pay, while demanding that salaries be stopped for those he accused of drawing them without doing their jobs and accusing unnamed parties of leading a campaign to disrupt education and keep the country’s crises going.
He was speaking on the programme Between the Lines on Al-Tanasuh channel, which is affiliated with dismissed mufti Sadiq Al-Gharyani — followed and summarised by Al-Marsad — and discussed the continuing teachers’ sit-in and the suspension of classes and attacked those behind the movement and the pages that criticise his positions.
Teachers’ rights and pupils’ right to education
Abdul Aziz, who serves as the Dbeibah government’s ambassador to Turkmenistan, said he stood by teachers’ employment and financial demands, arguing that a nation that does not respect teachers or give them their rights “has no future”. He stressed, however, the need to separate teachers’ right to claim their entitlements from pupils’ right to education, and to consider the consequences of schools remaining closed.
He said those he described as aware people, not driven by agendas or interests, agreed with him, Al-Gharyani and others on the need for pupils to return to school, arguing that it made no sense for children to remain out of the classroom with December approaching, when he said the first mid-year exams were due to be held.
He cited Al-Gharyani’s position on the schools crisis, stressing that teachers’ rights must be respected and protected but arguing that they should not be obtained at the expense of children’s education, and that no one should secure their own rights by wronging others.
Accusations of manufacturing crises and leading the sit-in
Abdul Aziz accused unnamed parties of working to obstruct the country’s affairs and keep its crises going, from petrol and “naphtha” to what he described as a manufactured education crisis.
He alleged a “conspiracy” led by groups and chat rooms on WhatsApp and Facebook, run by people he did not identify, claiming that they were leading the teachers’ sit-in and a campaign aimed at disrupting the education process and harming students’ futures.
He praised the security services for what he said was their exposure of these groups and chat rooms, which he accused of inciting the disruption of the country’s affairs.
Calls to stop salaries for those paid without working
Abdul Aziz alleged that those opposing a return to classes and calling for the sit-in to continue were people drawing salaries without working, describing them as “sitting at home” and demanding that their salaries be stopped. He also accused them of leading the campaign against him and insulting him.
He said he stood with teachers who carry out their duties, not with appointees who do not turn up for work, claiming that the number of non-working appointees exceeded 700,000 employees and that they were drowning out those he described as “real teachers”.
He declared that what he called the “march of backwardness” and the attempts to obstruct education had failed, threatening those he accused of not working and of stirring up confusion with woe and punishment from God, in his words.
Criticism of the movement’s organisers and remarks attributed to a teacher
Abdul Aziz described those behind the teachers’ sit-in movement as “populists” trying to ride the “trend” by attacking him, and criticised those he called the instigators of the suspension of classes, asking why teachers were following what a person he referred to as “Youssef Shaftar” said.
“Give me one issue Youssef got involved in that moved forward,” he said, alleging that groups active on social media pages had had no aim since 2011 other than “pouring petrol on the fire”.
He also condemned remarks he attributed to a female teacher, who he said had addressed parents and their children with phrases including “they don’t matter to us” and “let them bark”, describing the remarks as an insult to society.
Resuming classes and a protest on Saturday
Abdul Aziz proposed that schools reopen and classes resume, saying he would personally join teachers on Saturday in a protest outside the Ministry of Education or in Martyrs’ Square to demand their rights.
He appealed to the Minister of Education, the prime minister, the finance minister and all others concerned to look after teachers, improve their skills and abilities, and give them a salary that reflects appreciation and respect for their role.
Praise for Abu Salim teachers and education control office heads
He saluted the teachers who had reopened schools, as well as the head of the Abu Salim Education Control Office and the heads of other education control offices, whom he described as keen to keep classes going, noting that teaching had resumed in Abu Salim and asking what justified obstructing children’s futures.
He also praised those he described as siding with “the voice of Sharia, the voice of the nation and parents”, saying they had taken the right stance by returning pupils to their desks.
Response to campaigns against him
Turning to the criticism directed at him, Abdul Aziz said attempts to attack him since 2011 had not stopped him from staying in his position and expressing his views and would not move him an inch, insisting that he feared no one and that fear was not in his vocabulary, in his words.
He criticised pages whose activity, he said, was limited to attacking him personally, insisting that he would continue to play his role and would not stay silent. He added sarcastically that if a day passed without an attack on him, he would wonder what had changed and reflect on himself and his relationship with God, saying that the volume of attacks on him had become routine.
