The following statement was issued by the president of the union of private school teachers in Lebanon, Nehme Mahfoud, in response to the strike called for by the General Secretariat of Catholic Schools:

1- For more than a year, we have been demanding the General Secretariat of Catholic Schools and the Union of Educational Institutions to resolve the issue of retired teachers who are on the brink of death and have been receiving salaries ranging between one million and three million LBP for four years (10 to 30 dollars per month).

2- For a month, we have been insisting on holding a meeting with the Secretariat and the Union to study the situation of the Compensation Fund and the Teachers' Retirement Fund without response, knowing that the fund is in a difficult financial situation and is threatened with stopping the payment of salaries of retired teachers and also compensations.

3- The General Secretariat of Catholic Schools participated in a meeting of the Parliamentary Education Committee when the bill related to the members of the teaching staff in private schools and the school budget was approved and referred to the joint committees for approval and referral to the General Assembly.

4- Is there an objection to the clearance that obliges schools to pay their dues to the Compensation Fund? Does the General Secretariat agree to deduct hundreds of schools from teachers' salaries and not pay them to the fund? Since 2017 until now, many schools have not paid the six degrees. We also remind that the issue of clearance was discussed by the Fund's Board of Directors and approved when Mr. Fadi Yarq was the Director General of Education.