Bou Saab Calls for End of Wage Scale Dispute, Vows Not to Push Teachers Into Correcting Exams

Education Minister Elias Bou Saab urged on Wednesday the rival parties to resolve the ongoing debate on the new pay hike, vowing not to press teachers into correcting the official exams.

“I will not challenge the teachers or pressure them to correct the official exams as they have righteous demands,” Bou Saab said in comments to LBCI.

The minister described the late deal struck on Tuesday night with the Syndicate Coordination Committee as “unwavering and final.”

Bou Saab announced the postponement of the official school exams from Thursday to Friday after reaching a deal with the SCC to participate in monitoring them.

However, the settlement reached between the two sides after several hours of strenuous negotiations did not involve any agreement over the correction of exam papers.

“My responsibility is to relieve the students... We will not put tough questions but we will not make them easy also,” the minister told LBCI.

Bou Saab said that he is seeking “to preserve the level of the Lebanese certificate.”

“I am not seeking to have a political future. I follow my own convictions,” the minister added.

Parliament once again failed on Tuesday to agree on the pay raise for the public sector over lack of quorum caused by the boycott of the March 14 camp's Christian MPs and al-Mustaqbal, which had reportedly claimed that it was mulling to attend the session.

The failure to approve the draft-law has angered public sector employees and teachers who argued with Bou Saab over who had the right to call for the official exams.

The SCC, a coalition of private and public school teachers and public sector employees, has held onto its demands for a 121 percent increase in the salaries despite a warning by the majority of parliamentary blocs that such a raise would have devastating effects on the economy.

H.K.

M.T.