The crisis of the teachers union in Jordan is complicated by the escalating government security measures against their protests spreading in the kingdom's governorates.
On Sunday night, it was the most tense, since the beginning of the crisis, as it witnessed sit-ins and protests in most governorates, demanding the restoration of the union’s legitimacy, the release of members, and the overthrow of the government. The security services met with more arrests and dispersed most of those stances.
"The state is afraid of us because of the Karuna, and we have gathered fifty sixty people with the
bucks, a state that is like a state, and
your government is a government that trimmers. "
Long live the teacher #with the teacher #jordan_people_week
- Ibrahim Shdefat # With_Malawallem (@ibrahem_shdefat) August 9, 2020
Protests and arrests
in Irbid, in the north of the Kingdom, the security services ended a protest stand and arrested a number of teachers, and the same scene was repeated in the Mafraq governorate with the high volume of arrests among teachers, and the situation did not differ much in the capital, Amman, where the forces imposed a security cordon in the vicinity of the Professional Syndicates Complex and requested Protesters leave the site.
As for the governorates of Jerash and Madaba, hundreds have come out to confirm their standing behind the Teachers Union and its current council, rejecting the political and security approach to dealing with the crisis file.
Teachers talk to Al-Jazeera Net about the constant security pressures they are exposed to, especially on those who are active in organizing the movement, while others have referred to arbitrary referrals and summonses made by the Ministry of Education against some of them.
The crisis is escalating, with the increase in the number of arrested teachers, which reached more than 280, according to what Syndicate lawyer Bassam Freihat estimated to Al-Jazeera Net, including members of the Syndicate Council who have been on hunger strike for three weeks.
For his part, Prime Minister Omar Al-Razzaz stressed that the Jordanian state will not allow any party to bully or bully it, referring to the escalating crisis between the government and teachers.
The escalation of events between teachers and the government comes amid a complete absence by the Jordanian media, after the issuance of a new judicial decision by the Amman Criminal Court prohibiting publishing and commenting on issues related to the Teachers' Syndicate, what activists considered a flagrant violation of freedom of the press and the media and an unprecedented step "to silence voices." ".
Humiliating arrests of educational institutions,
Professor Al-Omari mocked himself for education, and this is his reward 😠😠 # With_the teacher #With_the Union_Against_The Gang #Jordanian_People_Week #MsThZBlbtD https://t.co/MsThZKBLbtD https://t.co/Vp9hBFptD https://t.co/Vp9hBFpt
- Abdulrahman Yassin #with_always (@AbdurahmnYasin) August 9, 2020
Behind the scenes of the crisis,
identical sources revealed to Al-Jazeera Net, about a meeting that included the Jordanian Minister of Interior, Salama Hammad, with the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamza Mansour, and his demand not to participate in sit-ins and protests, while Mansour reintroduced the initiative of the group’s secretary general, Abdul Hamid Al-Dinaibat, to mediate between the union And the government.
The sources explained that the government ignored the group’s initiative, indicating that the Syndicate Council rejected a semi-official request to submit their resignations and hold early elections in exchange for their release.
God is sufficient for us, and yes, the agent #with_the teacher pic.twitter.com/UIwLWlaJva
- Moh_shboul (@moh_shboul) August 9, 2020
The government allowed the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Human Rights Council, Raheel Al-Gharaibeh, to visit the vice president of the Teachers Syndicate, Nasser Al-Nawasrah, inside his prison, to check on his health.
And there were reports that al-Gharaybeh presented an initiative to resolve the crisis between the government and the union, according to observers, but al-Gharaybeh quickly denied the validity of what was circulated.
Expected scenarios
According to government statements, the next academic year will start on its scheduled date on the first of next September and that “efforts are currently focused on providing safety requirements and preventing the Corona pandemic, and improving remote education mechanisms on the other hand, to be inclusive of all students, To remain an enhanced option for on-campus education efforts. "
Message to teachers ..
I am the guardian of a student. I hold you responsible for my children
and I will never forgive you as long as you retract your right and stop your demands. The
lesson that my son is learning now is better than theoretical lessons and overloading with curricula
Dignity lesson is the first and most important of the multiplication tables, verb, subject, and object # with_the teacher
- Mansour Al-Qaralah (@alkarakimansor) August 9, 2020
It seems that the best scenario for the government is to refer the teachers 'crisis file to the judiciary, and start the new year as scheduled, while observers believe that the crisis may last for a long time and reach the gates of the next school year, to be a comprehensive teachers' strike.
The work strike paper is proposed among the teachers' ranks to be the decisive factor in the issue that has been pending for many weeks. However, the Syndicate Council did not talk about the strike, but rather reiterated that it would not be used temporarily.