(Zaman Al Wasl)- Lebanese authorities summoned a group of Syrian teachers to the General Security department in the town of Labwa near to border town of Arsal on Thursday, sources told Zaman al-Wasl.
The refugee teachers, who went spoke on the condition of anonymity, said they were forced to sign a written commitment claiming they will not practice any job related to education inside the Syrian camps in Arsal, under the pretext that the schools they work for do not have licenses to qualify as education facilities.
The written pledge included the sentence, “Any teacher caught while teaching in Syrian schools in the camps is legally responsible and subject to prosecution.”
The security measure was met with angry reactions from within the Syrian community in Arsal and from teachers. They consider that the Lebanese General Security’s actions are a clear and transparent execution of the education process in the camps. They argue that the arbitrary measures forcefully ignore and condemn over 5,000 Syrian students Syrian studying at different levels in the 10 Syrian schools inside the camps.
The residents of the camps in Arsal placed the moral and legal responsibility for these actions on the Director of the Education Bureau in Lebanon, Khalid Raad from the Qusayr area. They accused him of deceiving the teachers working in the camp schools. According to some teachers' testimonies to Zaman al-Wasl, Raad gave their names and telephone numbers to the Director of Public Security, Abbas Ibrahim on the pretext that the General Security will settle their security situation three months ago. The teachers were then surprised to be summoned to sign a written pledge not to teach until they obtain licenses from the Lebanese Ministry of Education.
Parents and teachers called for Khaled Raad to be dismissed from his position as an educational officer in Lebanon and demanded that their complaints be submitted to Imad Barq, the Minister of Education in the Interim Syrian government, to remedy this problem.
Raad quickly responded to the accusations and complaints raised against him in a voice message he posted on a WhatsApp group for Syrian teachers. He said, “Teachers signing the written pledge is a normal routine procedure, and there is no fear for the educational process inside the Syrian camps, confirming their persistence.”
In October, Lebanese Customs officials confiscated a truckload of textbooks issued by the Syrian Interim Government in the northern Bekaa area. The textbooks were heading to the Syrian schools in Arsal. The Custom officials confiscated the books on the basis the schools in Arsal are prohibited and unlicensed.
The Syrian refugee camps in Arsal include around 300 teachers (male and female) with different specializations. The teachers are distributed across the 10 schools established in the area belonging to the Syrian Interim Government. The schools teach the Interim Government approved curricula.
Zaman Al Wasl
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