Hundreds of Aswan-based teachers staged a demonstration on Sunday, in opposition to the government’s delay in issuing a 200% incentive which was already approved by the Ministry of Education.
The demonstration reached the Teachers Syndicate headquarters in Aswan, where the participants chanted against the Ministry of Finance and the Aswan governorate for not applying the Ministry of Education’s orders.
The participants also demanded the ouster of the Aswan governor General Magdy Hegazy.
In 2014, the Administrative Court ruled that teachers were eligible to receive the incentive. At the beginning of 2016, former minister of finance Hany Dimian announced that the incentive would be issued by the end of March. However, Dimian was sacked in the latest cabinet reshuffle.
Member of parliament and head of the Teachers Syndicate in Aswan, Yassin Abdel Sabour, said Monday that the demonstration was organised based on the decision of the general assembly, which vowed to continue organising similar events if the incentive is not issued.
He added that Sunday’s protest should be considered as a “warning” and that if the demands are not met, the “teachers may have to strike at the beginning of the new school year or even go on hunger strikes”.
Samy Al-Hennawy, one of the teachers who attended the protests, said that despite the EGP 80m budget, the incentive has not yet been given to the teachers.
Abdel Sabour warned against “government negligence” which according to him caused the delay of payment. He explained that the Ministry of Education decided in 2011 to provide the incentive, but after the 30 June uprising it withdrew the money.
Sunday’s protest is the biggest mobilisation by government workers since August 2015 when thousands of state employees from the Customs and Tax Authorities demonstrated in front of the Press Syndicate in Cairo, protesting the newly issued Civil Service Law.
