Teachers continue with strike, report high response

AMMAN – The Jordan Teachers Association (JTA) continued their strike on Sunday at the beginning of this year's school season.  

On Saturday, the JTA asked parents not to send their children to school on Sunday, the first day of the new academic year, as the syndicate decided to go ahead with a planned strike.

The JTA went on a strike on August 17 when teachers officially started working, said Husam Masheh, the chairman of the syndicate.

The union issued a statement claiming that 85 per cent of the teachers took part in the strike nationwide.

The JTA demands include changes to the civil service by-laws regarding sick leave, promotions and leave without pay, investigating the Education Ministry pension fund’s assets and referring the case to the judiciary, implementing a “better medical insurance system”, increasing teachers’ salaries, awarding them more financial benefits and ensuring that they are given better contracts at private schools.

The government has said that most of these demands are already met or will be met soon, while the financial demands are still under discussion.

"When we decided to hold the strike, we did not wish our strike to have a negative impact on the students, which is why we did it ahead of the school season," Masheh told The Jordan Times in an interview.  

He noted that they also planned the strike after the summer Tawjihi exams so that students would not be affected by the decision. 

"We began negotiating with the government at the beginning of this year but the dialogue did not end the dispute," he added.  

He recounted that the syndicate has held 40 events to send a message to the government. 

He called on the government to amend the legislation targeting the Education Ministry pension fund and revisit the current health insurance system.  

There are more than 6,000 schools in the Kingdom and around 150,000 teachers in the country teaching 1.8 million students, according to Masheh. 

Jumaa Nasrallah, a public sector employee, said his three daughters did not go to school, responding to the calls of the syndicate. 

"I hope that this strike will come to an end quickly because it will have a negative impact on my children's education," he added. 

Ministry of Education officials were not available for comment despite several attempts made by The Jordan Times to reach them. 

In a statement carried by the Jordan News Agency, Petra, Minister of Education Mohammad Thneibat countered the campaign of the Islamist-dominated syndicate with an appeal to parents to send their children to school. He assured the public that in case the strike goes on, their children will be compensated for the missed classes during the winter holiday.

The government says these demands would amount to around JD230 million a year and stated that it would not be able to meet such costly demands in view of the current economic situation.
The minister said that the majority of the demands have already been met and the government will discuss amendments to the civil service by-law next week.