AMMAN — “Stand
up with the Teacher” campaign coordinator Nariman Al-Shawaheen feels that a
measure of justice was made, if belated, to teacher Ruba, who, while eight
months pregnant, died in March for lack of healthcare insurance.
اضافة اعلان
Members of the
campaign, which documented violations of the teacher’s rights, succeeded in
ensuring that the deceased’s husband will now benefit from the fruit of her
labor, and receive her social security and retirement dues.
According to
Shawaheen, Ruba, who died on March 25, aged 34, did not have a written a
contract with the private school where she last worked, and had not benefitted
from social security during the years she had worked in different schools. She
was earning a paltry JD140 a month at the time of her death.
In May, Ruba’s
husband complained to members of the campaign that she was not covered by
social security, even though she had worked at several private schools since
2017. The campaign filed a complaint against all the schools in which she had
worked.
The “Stand up
with the Teacher” campaign was established in 2015 after a study conducted by
the International Labor Organization with the Pay Equity Committee found that
there is were wage gaps in private schools. It was designed to empower women
teachers working at private schools in Jordan to demand their labor rights.
The campaign
published a questionnaire for a sample of 1,000 private schools teachers; the
results were as follows: 54 percent received less than the minimum wage, 47
percent received salaries in hand, 30 percent had not signed the unified contract
while 77 percent have not received a copy of the unified contract, and 81
percent did not get the teacher’s allowance.
Mohammed, who
refused to give his surname, works as a teacher in several private schools; he
told
Jordan News that some private schools did not pay summer holiday salaries
and have no written contracts signed with the teachers. “If a teacher asked the
school to sign a contract, it forced that teacher to resign,” he said.
He also said that
there is gender discrimination. A woman teacher would have to work longer hours
for lower salaries because of the school’s belief that women teachers need to
work, he said, stressing that the reason for this is lack of government
oversight.
Omaima Ahmed, a
teacher at a private school, told
Jordan News that she needed one day off a
month to attend a court session, which, if she did not attend, would see her
lose her share of inheritance.
“I took a letter
from the judge and sent it to the school. They said, ‘You do not have such
leave (paid time off); the school only provides sick leave for teachers.’ Thus
one working day was deducted from my salary,” she said.
The head of
Worker’s House Hamada Abu Nijmeh told
Jordan News that the absence of social
security coverage of women teachers in the private sector “is one of the most
serious violations of their rights. This practice results in the denial of
social security insurance, in particular old-age, disability, death insurance,
work injury insurance, and maternity insurance”, he said.
He added that
there is weakness in monitoring the inclusion of women teachers in the Social
Security Corporation, and that repeated violations are a “strong indicator that
there is need to intensify supervision and inspection by the institution”.
Most prevalent
violations or women teachers’ rights regard salaries. Many schools fail to
adhere to the minimum monthly wage of JD260, even though the Ministry of
Education started obliging private schools to pay teachers’ wages into their
bank accounts as a condition for renewing school licenses.
The amount of
fines imposed on violating schools must be increased, Abu Nijmeh said, “to
become a deterrent, and electronic monitoring must be activated instead of
relying only on field inspection”, especially since it is not right “to rely
only on complaints submitted by teachers”.
Moreover, he
said, one should be aware that “most teachers avoid submitting complaints,
fearing the employer’s reaction, especially after women teachers were harmed as
a result of complaining to the authorities and lacking protection”.
Director of the
Private Education Department at the Ministry of Education Nawal Abu Reden said
that the ministry monitors the transfer of teacher’s salaries to banks, and
does not license any private school without proof of this action.
She was quoted by Jo24 as
urging teachers in private schools who feel that their rights are violated in
any way to inform the department, as well as the Ministry of Labor.
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