Lebanese public and private school teachers as well as Lebanese University teachers go on strike

To protest the political vacuum in Lebanon, public and private school teachers as well as the Lebanese University teachers staged a warning strike Wednesday, delivering a message to politicians that the situation cannot continue this way.

Around 600,000 students stayed home as classes in both public and private schools throughout Lebanon were suspended in response to the nationwide strike which caused the closure of nearly all of the public and private schools across Lebanon. As part of the strike, most public and private school educators, along with professors from the state-run Lebanese University, also stayed home.

The large-scale strike includes teachers affiliated with the March 8 and 14 forces in an eye-catching stance, after all unions and syndicates backed by all the political parties agreed on the same demands.

The teachers’ strike will be followed by another strike Thursday by the country’s transportation sector. A statement from Lebanon’s 21 public transport unions called for a nationwide strike Thursday to demand the government scrap taxes and fees on fuel prices and enforce a price cap on rising gasoline prices.