A student in a school in Lebanon. (Credit: Joseph Eid/AFP Archives)
BEIRUT — Public school teachers have called a general strike on Wednesday, Dec. 17, demanding urgent action to improve their worsening living conditions and to approve a new salary scale, after years of financial crisis and currency collapse.
They warned of further escalation if their demands are not met with concrete actions within a month.
The one-day strike, announced at a press conference, will be accompanied Wednesday by several demonstrations at 11 a.m. in front of the Finance Ministry headquarters in Beirut and across the regions.
"Today, we raise our voice to defend the survival of public schools and protect hundreds of thousands of students who have no other education option," said Jamal al-Omar, president of the Secondary Teachers’ League, speaking for all three unions involved, and accusing authorities of stalling.
Demands include “setting a timeline for adopting a comprehensive salary review through a new scale [which would also benefit private school teachers and public employees, Editor's note] and implementing a transparent and regular payment mechanism.”
Unions emphasized that public school teachers, who have "always kept negotiation channels open" with the education and finance ministries, are "no longer able to perform their duties because they are struggling to survive as their salaries collapse."
“To put this in perspective, teachers’ salaries have lost more than 90 percent of their value, and monthly income lasts only a few days, not even covering basic needs for dignified living,” Omar stressed, urging authorities to do justice to public school teachers and establish an immediate and comprehensive national rescue plan.
In contrast, contract teachers in public basic education (primary and intermediate), who make up 80 percent of teachers in this category, are abstaining, categorically refusing to join the strike.
They accuse their full-time union colleagues of being "beholden to ruling political parties," seeking “to exclude the contract teachers’ movement that advocates its independence,” and "ignoring their demands."
"A strike day is an unpaid day. Contract teachers and students pay the price," said Nisrine Chahine, president and founder of the League of Contract Teachers for Public Basic Education in Lebanon, in a statement Monday, condemning “the closure of public schools on strike days as decided by full-time teacher unions, depriving 80 percent of teachers of their daily income.”
Salary improvements, new wage scale and payment mechanism
Education Minister Rima Karameh confirmed to L’Orient-Le Jour in May 2025 that contract teachers indeed make up 80 percent of teaching staff in basic education. In contrast, secondary education teachers are 75 percent full-time, she said.
According to the ministry, public schools have 5,809 contract teachers and 8,930 full-timers, not including 8,165 contract teachers paid by international organizations for educating Syrian students.
Weighed down by the crisis, declining standards, and repeated strikes, public schools now enroll only a quarter of Lebanon’s students, estimated at 1,084,000 in 2023-2024 by the Center for Educational Research and Development (CRDP).
Since the financial crisis erupted in 2019, public teacher salaries have received some adjustments, but these were only cosmetic measures meant to bide time while awaiting a full overhaul of the public sector wage scale — a change that still hasn't happened.
Also listed among demands: increased monthly allowances for retired national education staff, and revision of the hourly wage for contract teachers.
But for the League of Contract Teachers for Public Basic Education in Lebanon, these demands are not theirs.
In addition to a higher hourly wage — which remains very low — they demand the monthly allowances from which they have been excluded, as well as transport and end-of-service compensation, and family allowances.
Moreover, contract teachers have for years sought tenure, but the issue remains blocked due to concerns over sectarian imbalance, as hiring in the public sector — now essentially frozen — has long adhered to clientelist criteria.
Below are the protest meeting points for Wednesday at 11 a.m.:
– Teachers in Beirut and Mount Lebanon: in front of the Ministry of Finance, Riad al-Solh.
– South Lebanon: In front of the governorate headquarters in Saida.
– Nabatieh: In front of the governorate headquarters.
– North Lebanon: In front of the Finance Ministry branch in Tripoli.
– Akkar: In front of the Ministry of Finance branch in Halba.
– Baalbeck: In front of the Ministry of Finance branch in Douris.
– Hermel: In front of the Serail.
– Zahle: In front of the Serail.
