Teachers’ demands await tangible executive decisions
LIBYA – Wasim Kleesh, spokesman for the teachers’ movement in Libya, has said the sit-in by male and female teachers will continue and will not end until their demands are met, arguing that the steps taken by the House of Representatives and the Ministry of Education are still preliminary and have brought no tangible change to the rights of those working in the sector.
Official steps yet to reach implementation
Speaking on a news bulletin of Libya Al-Ahrar TV, which broadcasts from Turkey — followed and summarised by Al-Marsad — Kleesh said that in his assessment the announced steps lack practical measures, adding: “We are optimistic about every response and every step the Ministry of Education takes, but we are still a long way from the measures being implemented.”
Contract teachers working for years without pay
He said some contract teachers have been working for around six years, and some were paid only after four years, while years of work have gone unpaid, arguing that this file requires serious practical solutions rather than promises alone.
Criticism of the postponed vote and the headcount of differentials
“We have been calling for our rights for almost a month now, starting about two weeks before the school year began, only to be surprised by yesterday’s House of Representatives session — where we expected a vote on a unified salary scale — being postponed for another two weeks, and surprised too by the headcount exercise!” Kleesh said.
“Is it reasonable that, to this day, the Ministry of Education does not know how much the teachers’ differentials amount to or the exact numbers?! This shows us that the ministry is very late in keeping up with teachers’ entitlements, and the legislative and executive authorities appear to be very late in genuinely responding to teachers’ demands,” he asked.
Authorities accused of being slow to tackle the crisis
Kleesh criticised the government and the legislative authorities for failing to get ahead of the crisis, and questioned why arranging the procedures and paying the entitlements had been delayed throughout the month-long sit-in, arguing that ignoring the demands had deepened the sector’s crisis and, in his words, reflected the authorities’ inability to solve its problems.
