October 12, 2026
The protest movement led by the President of the Association of Contracted Teachers of Public Basic Education in Lebanon (CTLP), Dr. Nisreen Shaheen, in front of the Shakib Arslan School in Beirut, raised broad questions about the reality of formal education and the extent of the stumbling block facing the start of the school year.
Shaheen explained in an interview with the “Lebanon Debate” website that the move that took place on Wednesday, October 7, and was broadcast live on social media, highlighted the suffering of students deprived of education, reviewing the crisis of the continued suspension of the contracts of about 3,500 contract teachers, under the name “recruited” and on the funds, since the start of the academic year on September 15. She pointed out that the widespread interaction with the video prompted the Minister of Education, Rima Karami, to take a decision on the same day to restore the regularity of education in school and to call on teachers to resume work at seven classes per day.
Shaheen wondered why this decision had not been circulated to hundreds of public schools suffering from the same problem, noting that the association followed its movements on Thursday, October 8, in front of the Raml Al-Darif School in Beirut, where it met families and students suffering from their children being deprived of education. She considered that the crisis went beyond administrative delay to turn into an educational catastrophe, with schools ending their hours early at 10:30 or 11 a.m., and others depriving entire classes of classes, in addition to the absence of basic materials.
Shaheen criticized what she described as confusion in the management of the file, questioning the standards adopted in light of the discrepancy in ministerial decisions between waiting to study needs, and returning professors to some schools while they are laid off in others, and demanding clear and comprehensive decisions that return professors to their classrooms and students to their seats, away from partial solutions.
In this context, Shaheen touched on the suffering of contract teachers in the south who lost their contracts due to the destruction of their schools without a clear treatment of their transfer requests, demanding that they be enrolled in schools in areas of displacement or that distance education be provided. She confirmed that the association sent repeated appeals to the three presidents, ministers, representatives, and the Parliamentary Education Committee without touching on practical steps.
Shaheen concluded by announcing a series of movements and protests in coordination with the parents’ committees, teachers, and students in various governorates, including a sit-in in front of Al-Minya Public School on Tuesday morning, October 13, at seven o’clock, followed by other movements successively. Warning of the consequences of the continuation of the crisis, stressing that the public school is not a field for experiments, and that the association will continue its movements until the rights of teachers and students are guaranteed and the regularity of education in all public schools.
