Thousands of Palestinian teachers protest corruption and lack of resources

This is the largest protest demonstration by the teaching profession in recent years. The agitation concerns both the West Bank territories and Gaza. A hard line is expected until the demands are met. The 'movement' coordinated by anonymous leaders using social platforms. Ramallah has allegedly not fulfilled the commitments it made last year.

Ramallah (AsiaNews) - Defying the directives of the Palestinian Authority (PA), thousands of teachers are crossing their arms suspending lessons in various areas of the West Bank and Gaza, in the largest protest demonstration by the teaching staff in recent years.

Among the causes of the blockade are the economic crisis affecting institutes and operating budgets, including funds for salaries, Israel's policies with its blockades that curb the economy, and corruption at the top of Palestinian institutions. Professors and teachers are intent on protesting, disrupting classes and occupying the streets, until their demands are met.

For two months, all teachers in Palestinian public schools from grade 1 to grade 12 have been holding classes only in the mornings, then promoting demonstrations to demand improvements in working conditions, higher salaries and independence for the education system.

The protest, in the form of a strike, is coordinated via digital platforms such as Facebook and Telegram by an independent group of teacher-activists. The leaders have chosen to remain anonymous - naming themselves the 'Teachers' Movement' - to counter the search by security forces.

"We continue to strike," one of the leaders told the website +972 behind anonymity, "because the government continues to avoid meeting our demands. 'We announced the strike at the beginning of February, after seeing [the top leadership of the institutions] not fulfilling their  previously.agreed obligations," he continued.

During the last school year, professors and lecturers carried out a 57-day strike, which ended with an agreement signed by Ap Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh, in which he pledged to increase salaries by 15% and to establish an independent and democratic committee. However, neither of these two points was fulfilled in practice and the promises remained waste paper.

The strike is affecting 52,000 teachers and nearly one million students in the West Bank and Gaza. The public education system in both territories is administered and financed by the Palestinian Authority, while education in the refugee camps is managed by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).

It provides services, including schooling, to those displaced by the Nakba in 1948 and their descendants. Unrwa workers have been on strike for 85 days, also in protest against unfair working conditions.

In recent years, public sector workers throughout the West Bank have been protesting against the government: on the streets among others doctors, lawyers and judges, but also among the teaching staff there are not infrequent cases of discontent and demonstrations. The protests are part of a framework of discontent and severe economic crisis, also caused by Israel's punitive measures against Ramallah.

The most important among these is a law passed in 2018 to withhold half a billion shekels (just under 140 million euros) each year from the taxes Israel collects and transfers to the Authority in accordance with the Oslo Accords. Underlying the measure would be financial support from the Palestinian leadership to the families of those detained in Israeli prisons.

Between the Covid-19 pandemic, last year's strike and the current crisis, the education of an entire generation of Palestinian students has suffered repeated interruptions and profound damage.

• Palestine
• Israel
• schools
• teachers
• strike
• economic crisis
• funding
• corruption