National Bloc: The failed government is responsible for the loss of the academic year

The teachers' strike in public schools has entered its fourth week, which threatens the loss of a full academic year, the results of which will be catastrophic for our children and future generations. This comes against the backdrop of the caretaker government postponing a session designated to discuss this crisis. The government, as a whole, bears responsibility for the loss of the academic year, first by disrupting the presidential elections and second, by failing to manage the public education sector and care for people's needs.

The government and the Ministry of Education are both required to take quick action to urge the teachers to end the strike and save the academic year. Hundreds of thousands of students in Lebanon have been without education for weeks, and the government is unable to provide any solution to meet the legitimate demands of the educational staff, after years of neglect, waste, and corruption.

The National Bloc presented a rescue plan for the education sector in September 2021, based on its belief in the critical role of education in Lebanon's political and economic growth and as a warning against the danger of the collapse of the education sector and its catastrophic repercussions. 

The "Bloc" also put forward several recommendations to address the educational issue in the public and private sectors, among which forcing banks to release the salaries of teachers and education sector workers, as well as establishing a clear, transparent, and effective mechanism for distributing international aid and donations, and allocating an emergency budget to provide schools with basic necessities like electricity and internet, and rehabilitating dilapidated buildings to avoid the tragic incident that occurred at the American Public School in Tripoli, which cost the life of student Maggie Mahmoud.

This political class must put an end to neglect, empty promises, and patchwork solutions and elaborate a clear plan to reform and develop the education sector, and implement rapid measures to urge the teachers to end the strike and save the academic year.