Amman – Raed Sbeih

Political, partisan, trade union, and human rights activists denounced the Ministry of Education’s continuation of its “reprisal policies” towards a number of teachers and activists in the Teachers Syndicate, especially members of the Central Authority, by referring them to early retirement, which observers consider a violation of the law and all the commitments of the Ministry of Education to implement the judicial orders issued by the Ministry of Education. It guaranteed these teachers their rights and emphasized the necessity of lifting grievances against them.

In a reprehensible irony, the Ministry of Education referred a number of these teachers to retirement on the day the Minister of Education set a date to meet with them and discuss the need to accomplish what the ministry promised regarding a number of important issues in order to lift the unjust decisions on teachers, reopen the union’s headquarters, and hold elections for its council, while The minister apologized for not meeting them because he was “preoccupied with a cabinet meeting.”

Lawyer and human rights defender Abdul Qadir Al-Khatib called on the Ministry of Education to stop these “customary decisions” and retract them, and to abide by what the law and the constitution guarantee to the employee of the right not to be referred to early retirement unless he wishes and submits an official request for that, considering all procedures practiced against teachers are legally invalid.

Al-Khatib said in his statements to:compass“Early retirement from a legal point of view takes place after the person wishing to retire early submits an official request within specific conditions, and that his age is over fifty years, and his service is not less than 21 years, and this is explicit in the law.

Al-Khatib denounced what he described as the “retaliatory political decisions” of the Ministry of Education against teachers, saying: These decisions regarding referrals to early retirement without the teacher’s desire are political decisions, and unfortunately they are used in a retaliatory manner against active members of the union and teachers’ activists.

He stressed that any illegal measures of a retaliatory political nature must be canceled, as these decisions harm teachers and the educational process, and do not take into account the difficult economic conditions that the Jordanian people are going through.

Al-Khatib continued by saying: It is unfortunate that the government claims to enter a new era of political, economic and administrative reform, and its statements abound in this regard, but all of this is for media consumption, and what is applied on the ground is something completely different.

He said: There is no real translation of the reform, so we hear government fanfare and we do not see grinding on the ground, except for the continuation of the security grip on the joints of decisions, which prevail today.

Al-Khatib stressed that if the state wants real political reform in the country, these customary measures must be stopped and the law and the constitution must be adhered to, which guarantee the rights of all.

A denunciation of the official mentality of revenge towards teachers

In turn, the Islamic Action Front party deplored the new massacre committed by the Ministry of Education against teachers by arbitrarily referring four trade union activists to early retirement.

The party said in a statement, “Al-Bawsala” confirmed that these referrals are an arbitrary political measure that comes as part of the series targeting the Teachers Syndicate and perpetuates the vengeful mentality of official authorities in dealing with this file, despite the official promises made to solve this file.

He pointed out that what the government has done against activists working in the Teachers Syndicate and fighting them with their livelihoods, represents a new episode of the customary mentality with which state institutions are run, and a continuation of the approach of targeting the Teachers Syndicate and engineering its upcoming elections, which are still suspended until now by the Ministry of Education.

The party called on the Ministry of Education to retract this unfair decision against teachers, which lacks justice, transparency and integrity, and to stop using compulsory early retirement as a punishment for teachers and employees because of their trade union and educational activity and because of expressing opinion, which increases the state of popular tension at a time when the nation is in dire need of strengthening the front. internal affairs and resorting to the language of reason instead of devoting the customary mentality and the security grip in dealing with national files.

A new massacre of retirement referrals

For his part, the former deputy head of the Teachers Syndicate, Dr. Nasser, confirmed that the Ministry of Education carried out a new massacre by referring a number of male and female teachers to retirement.

Nawasra added, in a statement to Al-Bawsala, that the referrals included members of the union’s central body in the fourth session.

The former vice president denounced what he described as arbitrary procedures and referrals, stressing that those targeted by the decisions are educational leaders whose files are devoid of disciplinary sanctions, but rather the teachers field witnesses them with their experiences and participation.

Nawasra said that we are making fun of the law institutions and the Ministry of Education, which are governed by temperamental procedures, pointing out that early retirement decisions are in violation of the Social Security Law and a violation of the decision of the Court of Cassation.