Education Minister Postpones Official Exams for 5 Days over Wage Scale Row
Education Minister Elias Bou Saab announced on Monday that official exams would be postponed for five days pending a solution with the public sector employees and teachers who have threatened to boycott the exams over the failure of the parliament to approve a controversial pay hike.
During a press conference he held at his office following talks with representatives from the Syndicate Coordination Committee, Bou Saab said the Brevet exams that were scheduled to be held next Saturday will be postponed to June 12.
Baccalaureate exams will be postponed from June 12 to June 16, he said, adding all the exams will be over by June 27.
“I discussed with the SCC several solutions” to the boycott that the teachers have announced over the failure of the parliament to agree on the wage scale.
“The official exams would be held on June 7 if there is an agreement on the wage scale. But this option is currently not available,” he said because the parliament is set to meet on June 10 to continue discussions on the draft-law.
“The second option is to delay the exams for five days,” the minister said.
But he stressed that he would take action and “hold the exams in an unprecedented way, taking into consideration the interests of the students if the second option failed.”
He did not elaborate.
“The official exams that have an impact on the education system are a national interest which we cannot give up,” he stated.
But Bou Saab made sure to appease the SCC, saying the plan does not entail “the withdrawal of our support” for the teachers and their demand for the approval of the wage scale.
Earlier, Hanna Gharib, who heads the SCC, a coalition of private and public school teachers and public sector employees, warned the government against canceling the Brevet exams.
"The Brevet diploma is a red line because it is part of national sovereignty," he said during a sit-in in Beirut's Corniche al-Mazraa neighborhood.
“We want the wage scale to be approved on June 10,” he added.
The SCC has vowed not to back off from its demand for a 121 percent wage hike despite a proposal by a committee to reduce the total funding from LL2.8 trillion ($1.9 billion) to LL1.8 trillion ($1.2 billion).
Gharib reiterated his warning that the state institutions and the official exams will be paralyzed starting June 7 if the scale was not approved.
"Our option is clear: It is 121 percent," he told reporters following the meeting he held with Bou Saab along with an SCC delegation.
G.K.
M.T.
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