Schools in Syria’s Aleppo lack educational staff
ALEPPO, Syria (North Press) – Schools in Syrian government-held areas in Aleppo Governorate suffer from lack of educational staff due to low teachers’ wages, affecting the educational process.
Last month, an employee in the Education Directorate in Aleppo told North Press that they received more than 3.000 requests for resignation, more than 6.000 requests for unpaid leave, and 650 requests for early retirement this year by educational cadres in Aleppo schools and its countryside.
Teachers complain about low wages that do not correspond with their needs.
Due to the inability to fill the deficit in the educational staff, the families of some students stopped sending their children to schools.
However, these numbers do not correspond to the statistics reported by Fawaz Haj Taha, Deputy Director of Department of Basic Education, who said since the beginning of the new academic year, 950 requests for resignation and 1.100 requests for unpaid leave were recorded, not to mention the young men who enrolled in the compulsory service.
The lack of the educational staff has significantly increased this year, due to the small number of applicants for competitions for employees that the directorate carries out, according to Taha.
Regarding to the solutions, Taha said, “We call on the government to find a solution, as the teacher needs great support in order to teach,” in a hint to the need to raise the wages of the educational staff.
Without teachers, the educational process will be lost, he added.
The average of teachers’ wages in government-held areas is 100.000 SYP monthly (about $20).