Parents' Committees Threaten to Boycott Schools over New Wage Scale

The parents of students at Catholic schools threatened on Saturday to boycott classes, unless the new wage scale draft law is revised.

"We are no longer capable of paying tuition fees and bearing the expenses of education,” the head of the parents' committees at Catholic schools in Kesrouan, Joseph Bteish, said during a protest held at Beirut's Riad al-Solh Square.

"We might resort to preventing our children from going to school if the new wage scale was not reevaluated,” he threatened.

"We do support the rights of teachers, but not at the expense of parents.”

Bteish also warned that another protest will take place on Tuesday, vowing “not to withdraw from the streets before revising the means agreed on by the joint parliamentary committees to fund the new wage scale.”

"We have warned repeatedly that raising tuition might result in hundreds of students becoming out of schools,” he added.

The joint committees approved late on Friday the new wage scale and referred it to the parliament for a vote.

The legislators had studied many articles in the draft law, and left others to be examined by the legislature.

S.D.B.