Teachers were widely attacked by factions affiliated with the National Army during a peaceful sit-in of educational staff to demand improved living conditions in the al-Bab area in rural Aleppo. This is a new violation of the security factions controlling the areas of rural Aleppo in northern Syria.
Our correspondent, Muhannad Al-Ali, reported that dozens of police and public security forces attacked the tent of the teachers’ sit-in in front of the Directorate of Education in the city of Al-Bab, this morning and removed it and dispersed the sit-in after assaulting some teachers with threats and insults.
The correspondent explained that the security officers forced some teachers and one of the media workers to erase the contents of the filming of the sit-in (photos and videos) from their mobile phones under the influence of weapons and threats. The police officers claimed that the process of ending the teachers’ sit-in and removing the designated tent came by order of the public prosecutor in the area. Still, the prosecutor denied knowledge of the matter or issued orders in this regard.
Sit-in
Teachers began a sit-in on Monday evening in front of the Directorate of Education in the city of al-Bab to demand better living conditions, increased monthly salaries and a raise in the educational process. This comes in continuation of previous strikes and sit-ins that poured into the same goal, in light of deliberate government corruption towards the educational institution and security attempts to force the educational staff to stop the strikes and accept the current reality. The deficit in the support provided to the educational sector in the areas of northern Syria reached about 85 percent of the percentage of total needs, according to the Syria Response Coordinators team.
The previous sit-ins have not received an adequate response to teachers’ demands more than a year after their launch, along with administrative and security pressures and threats to dissuade educational cadres from their demands. This comes amid the deteriorating living conditions suffered by those areas under the control of the National Army in the countryside of Aleppo, especially with the significant decline in monthly income.
The teachers had made their demands clear in a statement at the end of the last school year. The first demand was the recognition of the Free Syrian Teachers’ Union as the sole legitimate representative of teachers and the review of the financial grant provided to teachers, “which does not exceed $ 65 and its limitation to the equivalent of $ 200.”
The demands included activating the internal system of the work of the Directorate of Education in the liberated north of Syria, rejecting partial solutions related to reforming the reality of the teacher regarding relief baskets and others. This comes in addition to demanding the reintroduction of the system of preparatory and secondary certificates “according to the old model adopted in our schools” and working to secure “the educational process requirements such as textbooks, furniture, stationery and logistics.”
This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
