Private school teachers to receive salaries on bank account — Razzaz

AMMAN — Minister of Education Omar Razzaz on Saturday announced the ministry’s decision to require all private schools across the Kingdom to transfer the teachers’ salaries to their bank accounts, aiming to ensure that all schools adhere to the regulations stipulated by the collective agreement on the working conditions of teachers. 

The decision will come into effect at the beginning of the next academic year, according to the minister, who told The Jordan Times that “this decision will end the loopholes that are currently being used by a few schools to deny teachers their basic rights and hold them ‘hostages’ to their arbitrary decisions — so we [the Ministry of Education] are keen to put this into action”.

The announcement came during a meeting organised by the Stand Up with the Teacher campaign, where over 60 teachers called on the Ministry of Education to take measures against the violations committed by several private schools regarding the salaries of their employees. ​

Started in 2015 with the support of the National Committee for Pay Equity (NCPE) and the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the campaign aims to help female teachers working in private schools ensure that their basic labour rights are respected, according to the campaign organisers.

ILO gender consultant Reem Aslan noted that the agency believes that this is an “excellent” decision, pointing out that “this guarantees that a transparent system will be put in place, making it possible to analyse the data and helping authorities to ensure that all teachers are receiving their minimum wage”.

“Getting our salaries transferred to our bank accounts or electronic wallets is the only way for us [teachers] to prove it when a violation is committed,” co-founder of the campaign Nareeman Shawaeen said stressing that “when no data is available, schools can force us to sign our resignation during the summer months or deny us our right to social security — not to mention that most of us receive salaries way below the minimum wage”.

Shawaeen pointed out that the campaign carried out a survey where over 1,300 teachers participated, which showed that 94.5 per cent of the teachers would prefer their salary to be transferred to their bank accounts, while 67 per cent responded that they don’t get it transferred due to decisions taken by the school.

“The collective agreement on the working conditions of teachers requires schools to transfer the salaries to a bank account unless the workers express their desire not to do so,” the activist said, criticising that “the survey proves that several schools are violating the rights of their teachers”.

“We held ourselves accountable and took the necessary measures to provide the ministry with data to prove the situation, and now, we thank the minister for standing by our side and supporting us with his decisions,” Shawaeen concluded.