November 15, 2026
The contract teachers movement escalated its position towards the Minister of Finance, Yassin Jaber, against the backdrop of the latter’s refusal to include the increase in contract hourly wages in the Council of Ministers’ decision, calling on the Ministries of Finance and Education to formulate a new formulation that guarantees the implementation of the decision and approves the due increase retroactively as of March 1, 2026.
The movement indicated, in a statement, that the position of the Minister of Finance based on Decree No. 3075 and Law No. 44 not stipulating an increase in the contract hourly wage raises legal and financial questions, especially since the claim is based on a decision issued by the Council of Ministers.
The movement was based on the tenth item of Cabinet Resolution No. 2, contained in the minutes of Session No. 51 dated February 16, 2026, which stipulated a request to reconsider the value of the hourly wage of contract teachers in proportion to the public sector multipliers, and to amend the joint decision issued by the Ministers of Finance and Education.
The movement refused to consider the previous increase approved during the era of former Education Minister Abbas Al-Halabi as an alternative to the current increase. Explaining that the old increase was calculated on a three-fold basis, while the current claims are based on six-fold, which makes mixing them unjustified and does not negate the right of the contractors to claim the difference.
In the mathematical details, the movement explained that the hourly wage for secondary education (which is based on 33,000 liras) increases in value six-fold to 198,000 liras, which requires an additional increase of 120,000 liras per hour, compared to the previous increase, which amounted to 180,000 liras. As for basic education (which is based on 20,000 liras), the wage rises sixfold to 120,000 liras, leaving contractors with an additional increase of 80,000 liras per hour, compared to the 100,000 liras previously approved.
On this basis, the movement called on the Minister of Education, Rima Karami, to hold an urgent meeting with the Minister of Finance, Yassin Jaber, to prepare the formula for amending the joint decision, including an increase of 120,000 liras for the secondary education hour, and 80,000 liras for the basic education hour.
The movement demanded that the two ministers sign the joint decision and send it again to the Council of Ministers to complete its approval, in preparation for disbursing the differences with retroactive effect as of March 1, 2026, concluding its statement by saying: “As long as there is injustice, there is a movement.”
These developments come in light of the continuing dispute over the mechanism for calculating contract hourly wages and the inclusion of contractors in public sector multipliers, amid the movement’s insistence on implementing the Council of Ministers’ decision and settling the financial dues of teachers in the primary and secondary levels.
