Minister of Education Ahmed Zaki Badr has decided to grant an extra two months’ salary to staff at the General Authority of Educational Buildings, and to reactivate the medical care provided to the staff in an attempt to solve the recent crisis between himself and the authority employees.
Recent protests by the staff were fueled by Badr’s remarks on television in which he labelled employees as a “source of corruption.” Staff were also enraged at his decision to cancel their medical care benefits.
The bonuses will be disbursed to staff working in the authority’s branches in 6th of October and Luxor. The authority’s head Khaled Kamel, has been instructed to continue providing cheap, high-quality medical care for employees.
Staff at the two branches have however refused to receive the bonuses despite the approval of management. Some employees wondered how their medication would be distributed while the minister has taken a decision to cancel the mandate of the doctors working at the authority’s medical administration. They said the minister’s decision to pay out the bonuses is an implicit admission of their importance to the authority and vowed to resume their strike until all their demands are met.
Meanwhile authority staff continued to strike in Gharbiya, Damietta and Daqahlia.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
