Cardinal Bechara Rai The future of Lebanon’s long-standing tradition of Catholic education is at risk because of a controversial law governing teacher salaries.
Salary increases for teachers in the private school sector are mandated in a law that took effect in August last year. As a new school year unfolds, school administrators are struggling with how to pay for the raises.
Of Lebanon’s more than one million students, 70% attend private schools, according to the country’s General Secretariat of Catholic Schools. About 20% of private school students attend Catholic schools.
Lebanese Cardinal Bechara Rai, Maronite patriarch, often has called the country’s private education system, particularly Catholic schools, “one of the pillars of Lebanon”.
While the law in question ordered new salary scales for workers in the public sector, it was also applied to private school teachers.
To pay for the public employee salary boost, the Lebanese government increased taxes. But the private schools were left with no mechanism by which to cover teachers’ raises.
With financial support from the Government, Lebanon’s Catholic schools rely on tuition paid by the families of enrolled students.