Jordanian teachers announce striking action for the start of the new school year

Jordan

Published: 2017-05-12 13:00

Last Updated: 2024-03-26 16:16


Hundreds of thousands of school children might be affected if the teachers' strike goes ahead as planned.
Hundreds of thousands of school children might be affected if the teachers' strike goes ahead as planned.

The Jordanian Teachers Syndicate (JTS) has announced a strike at the beginning of the new school year in September 2017.

In four months from May, disgruntled teachers are planning to see serious amendments in laws concerning their medical insurance, safety, teaching practice, end-of-year service. They are also demanding a bonus 15 times their current salary, and are looking into increasing their addtional teaching allowance from 100% to 150%.

It remains uncertain what will happen if the government fails to meet JTS demands, and how this will affect the schooling of the Kingdom's children. 

In 2014, 140,000 public school teachers staged a successful strike that lasted for one week and affected over 1.4 million students. At the time, one of their most prominent demands was a 50% salary increase, distributed over a period of three years.