Libya's schools are closed.. Teachers' strike disrupts the school year

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Thousands of schools in Libya are still closed, 3 weeks after the scheduled start of the school year, after a teachers’ strike prevented students from returning to their classrooms, in a crisis that threatens to disrupt studies.

Education unions are committed to continuing the strike to demand improving their financial conditions and raising their wages, in addition to demanding improved working conditions and improving the infrastructure of educational institutions, before resuming studies, while the government is pressing towards reopening schools to save the academic year from disruption.

In addition, the official spokesman for the teachers’ movement, Wassim Kalish, said in a statement to Al Arabiya.net that the concerned authorities have not yet responded to any of the demands of teachers or their unions, and none of them have been implemented, stressing that “the movement is committed to continuing the strike until its demands are met.”

Kalish also clarified that there is no specific date for the suspension of the strike and the return of classes, indicating that this will not happen before the implementation of the demands that he described as legitimate and implementable, if efforts are combined and efforts are united among the various concerned parties. He expressed his hope that the authorities will respond to the teachers’ demands in a way that allows the crisis to end and studies to resume.

He added that the teachers are "determined to continue the strike until the demands are implemented," expressing his hope that the authorities will respond to their demands and that efforts will lead to a solution that ends the crisis and returns students to school.

On the other hand, the fears of parents of students are increasing that the continuation of the strike will have an impact on the school year, given that weeks have passed since the scheduled start date, and the resulting accumulation of lessons and pressure on the academic program may subsequently result.

Meanwhile, Zahraa Al-Abdullah, a teacher in the city of Sabratha, says, “None of the teachers is satisfied with the closure of schools and the obstruction of the return of students,” noting that “everyone wants to return to work and return life to schools, but officials’ mishandling of the teachers’ file has complicated the situation and prolonged the crisis.”

She also added in a statement to Al Arabiya.net that “the return of students to schools is important and a priority, but this return must be to schools capable of providing education and working conditions that suit them and preserve the dignity of their teachers.”

In an attempt to end the stalemate, the Minister of Education, Muhammad al-Qaryou, in an official directive, called on education monitors to open schools and receive students, out of concern for their basic right to continue their education during the current academic year, stressing that the ministry is “following up with great interest the demands of teachers,” noting that “there are persistent and serious efforts being made by the government to resolve these demands and respond to them.”

The continuation of the teachers’ strike came at a time when the National Unity Government is facing increasing pressure due to simultaneous demand movements in a number of sectors demanding increases and fairness in salaries, which presents it with the challenge of containing workers’ demands.

It is noteworthy that the Libyan Audit Bureau revealed increasing concerns related to the country’s financial stability in light of the large and unprecedented expansion in public sector expenditures, as it issued an urgent call to the Prime Minister of the National Unity Government, Abdul Hamid Al-Dabaiba, to intervene immediately with the aim of controlling the staff and adopting a unified salary schedule that guarantees the achievement of social justice and stops the financial waste that threatens the state treasury.