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70 jobless teachers protest
By BASMA MOHAMMED
Published: 22nd OCTOBER 2008
ABOUT 70 unemployed Bahraini teachers demonstrated outside parliament yesterday, demanding that MPs take their cause to His Majesty King Hamad and Prime Minister Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa.
The jobless male and female teachers complained that the Education Ministry was employing expatriates, while leaving Bahrainis out of work.
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70 jobless teachers protest
By BASMA MOHAMMED
Published: 22nd OCTOBER 2008
ABOUT 70 unemployed Bahraini teachers demonstrated outside parliament yesterday, demanding that MPs take their cause to His Majesty King Hamad and Prime Minister Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa.
The jobless male and female teachers complained that the Education Ministry was employing expatriates, while leaving Bahrainis out of work.
Amongst the demonstrators were three sisters, who said they were desperate to work to support their widowed mother and family.
“I have been waiting for a job for four years. I applied at the Education Ministry, the Labour Ministry and Civil Service Bureau they didn’t even call me,” said Amena Alsayed Hashim.
“I am an information technology teacher, I studied at Bahrain University for five years and now I can’t find a job, I want to implement what I have studied and get a job that supports me.”
Ms Hashim said her father died in 2002 and the family was relying on social insurance.
“We are not struggling to live, but we want to give back to our parents and try to give our mother a better life. How can we when we don’t have jobs,” she added.
Her two sisters, Khatoon and Mona, have been unemployed for six years and one year respectively.
“I also studied at the Bahrain University become an Islamic studies teacher, but for six years I have been waiting for a call to work and its frustrating,” said Khatoon.
Mona has a bachelor’s degree in public relations and media from the university, but says she has been unable to find work.
The demonstrators protested in front of the Parliament for half an hour, before an MP appeared to receive a letter from them.
He agreed to take two of them, Laila Ismail and Jaleela Sayed Hassan, inside to meet MPs, who reportedly promised to look urgently into their plight.
Education Ministry Under-Secretary Shaikh Hisham bin Abdulaziz Al Khalifa told the GDN that the ministry wanted to provide the best quality education possible. “The ministry cannot employ any teacher. They have to be specialised and qualified. They need to prove they are excellent,” he said. basma@gdn.com.bh
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