Ayman Fadilat-Amman

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Jordanian Prime Minister Omar Razzaz's calls for students to attend public schools on Sunday morning fell on deaf ears as public schools across the country remained silent after a teachers' strike went into its third week, despite intense attempts to resolve the crisis.

After meeting on Saturday evening with the ministerial team tasked with following up the file of teachers' strike and the directors of the directorates of education to find out about the field situation in the Kingdom's schools, Razzaz called on the students to go to their schools on Sunday.

Al-Razzaz stressed in the meeting the need to follow up the field developments in schools, and focus work on serving students and facilitate their access to schools, because they are the basis and goal of the educational process.

Al-Razzaz's call for students to return to their schools was followed by calls from education directorates in several governorates for parents of students to send their children to their schools this morning to receive their daily lessons as usual.

School free of students this morning in the area of ​​the province of Balqa Northwest Amman (Al Jazeera)

Schools without students
But those calls did not resonate with the students, opened the doors of schools and broadcast the speakers of the morning queue of the Royal Peace and National Anthem, but without the presence of students or students in the school yards.

On the contrary, Sunday's ceremony was attended by teachers on the ground. Hundreds of them rallied in front of the Education Directorate of Mafraq (east of the kingdom) and Jerash (north of the kingdom), and chanted slogans demanding their right to the allowance, while some teachers chanted the departure of the Razzaz government.

Teachers in a number of governorates announced field movements this week, while calls for a sit-in to the government again rose, in a sign of a possible escalation, especially as the prohibition of a similar sit-in by security services earlier this month was the reason for the strike call, Nasser al-Nawasra said. Teachers' Union in more than one interview this month.

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The guild's insistence
The Teachers' Union faced these calls by affirming to teachers and parents of students that the strike continues on Sunday, calling the calls from some education directorates in the Kingdom to send their children to schools "as a tampering with the national fabric, and a call to strike the strong relationship between the Jordanian people and teachers."

Despite these calls, Nasser al-Nawasra's message on the union's Facebook page last night bore signs of a possible solution.

"We are committed to apologizing and then recognizing the 50% premium. The union has exceeded the demand for money retroactively since 2014, which is proof of our flexibility in resolving the crisis," Nawasra said in a live broadcast via the union's Facebook page.

He explained, `` because of the difficulty of financial transfers in the items of the budget for the current year 2019, I consider that the solution in the apology and the inclusion of the 50% premium in the budget next year, and this pulls the fuse of the crisis. ''

Teachers insist on government demand for 50% bonus (Reuters)

Marathon encounters
Last weekend saw marathon meetings between the government and the Teachers' Union, part of which was attended by Prime Minister Omar Razzaz, and the government put forward a solution initiative rejected by the union yesterday evening, making the crisis range.

This morning, Minister of State for Information Affairs Jumana Ghanimat considered the rejection of the teachers' union government proposal "an indication of the unwillingness of dialogue," stressing that the government is keen to improve the living situation of teachers.

Ghanimat said in a statement to Hayat FM radio that the suspension of the strike "is necessary for the benefit of students because they are not part of the crisis," and about the teachers' union assertion that teachers will compensate students for what they missed during the strike. .

Observers familiar with the crisis that the dialogues did not result in anything and seemed to "dialogue for dialogue only, starting with agendas prejudice to the other opinion before entering the discussions."

Those who cite this view cite the government's adherence to its opinion of refusing to meet the demands of teachers with a 50% premium, while teachers continue their strike, in addition to the organization of sit-ins in front of the directorates of education.