Contract teachers in Lebanon found support for Parliament in their arms with the Ministry of Education. The conflict concerns the maintenance of their contracts, but also the size of classes and the supervision of pupils. Meeting on 4 November 2026 in the presence of Minister Rima Karami, the Education Commission recommends that decision 1513 be postponed on 28 October. At the same time, she called on the League of Public Secondary Teachers to return to her strike. This appeal remains to be translated into decisions: the parliamentary recommendation does not invalidate the ministerial measure and the resumption of the courses remains to be confirmed.
Contract teachers in Lebanon: preserving contracts and hours
Chaired by Hassan Mourad, the committee adopted its recommendation by a majority of its members. She called for the retention of contracts for contract teachers and auxiliary staff, known as « moustaane bihom ». The study of the relevant file is not completed. MEPs also want to allow teachers who have been prevented from giving classes to join the teaching programmes, with an insured hourly service. This request applies to those who continue to respect their administrative presence in institutions.
For teachers paid per hour, keeping a contract is not enough: we still need to have courses to give. Their income depends on the service they receive. A regrouped class, modified assignment or new distribution of materials may reduce this service without the contract being formally broken. It is this fragility that the parliamentary recommendation seeks to take into account by combining the maintenance of contracts with the guarantee of teaching hours.
The school year has already begun and MPs are seeking to avoid a break-up in schools. Their recommendation is based on educational contracts and services, without announcing general tenure or a new salary scale. Payment of the sums due, another central claim of the contractors, remains to be processed.
A strike supported by 3,229 voting participants
Mediation takes place at the beginning of the movement announced on Wednesday, November 4. The day before, the Public Secondary League had confirmed its commitment to respect the vote of the general assemblies. Out of 4,253 participants, 3,229 had chosen the strike, or about 75.9%. The opponents were 591 and the abstainers 433.
The internal balance of power is clear: the votes in favour exceed those of the opponents and the abstainers gathered. However, the actual extent of mobilization remains more difficult to measure: no verified national counts of closed high schools or strike teachers are available.
The League thus approached the discussions with a largely majority mandate of its general assemblies. In order to obtain the resumption, the commission asked him to reconsider a decision taken by the teachers themselves. The guarantees of school organisation will therefore be decisive. It will be up to the union representative to decide, and then the institutions to organise the return to class.
Contractuals and auxiliaries account for almost 58%
The latest statistical bulletin, devoted to the year 2024-2025, shows how much the public school depends on these staff. In public education, the census distinguishes 17,996 contractors, 2,030 assistants and 13,762 holders. The total, together with the other categories, is 34,608 staff. Thus, contractors alone account for approximately 52 per cent. With auxiliaries, their share rose to 57.9%.
In 2023-2024, their weight was lower. The previous bulletin had 18,108 contractors and 2,113 public assistants out of a total of 37,841. The two categories represented about 53.4 per cent. Their relative weight increases in the next census despite a slight decrease in their number. This increase in their share is therefore due to the evolution of the total number of staff, rather than an increase in their number.
The contract file thus affects a majority of the staff listed in the public. However, these statistics cover the whole sector, beyond the only high schools involved. Prior to the measures of autumn 2026, they do not allow the number of persons directly affected by them to be counted.
The same bulletin contains 294,726 students in the public sector, 50,171 of whom are at the secondary level. Again, this is the number of students in a previous year, not the number of students who were not in school on 4 November. However, they give the measure of the school network in which the conflict is involved. The place of non-holders closely links the conditions of employment of teachers to the continuity of courses.
The threshold of 32 students at the heart of the disagreement
In particular, the dispute concerns the duplication of classes. In its October 30 explanation, the Ministry presents a threshold of 32 students, against a reference of 40 in the rules of procedure. He stated that he had taken into account the proposals of the representatives of the high school and the directorates. The difference is eight pupils, a 20% lower threshold than this reference.
The League contests this presentation. His head of media relations, Hassan Khodr, recalled that his proposal was 30 students. He also argues that the regulatory ceiling of 40 did not prohibit duplication before reaching it. It is as much the threshold chosen as the way in which it is presented which opposes both parties.
The ministry highlights the relaxation of the 40 students in the regulations. The League, on the other hand, judges the 32 students on its 30-year application and refuses to see the translation of its proposals there. Behind the apparent proximity of the figures, therefore, the two sides do not talk about the same starting point.
In institutions, the application of this threshold also runs counter to the realities of the rooms: their size, the number of staff present and the need for accompaniment vary. Directorates are asking that the material capabilities they have passed on to the department be taken into account. The choice to maintain or consolidate a division then determines the number of courses to be provided and the hours to be distributed among teachers.
Monitoring, another friction point
The same divergence appears in the administrative and educational framework of high schools. The ministry presents a supervisor for 125 students instead of 150. He also referred to the possibility of adding 15 hours of surveillance as needed and necessary. It presents these provisions as an adaptation of the regulatory framework to the needs of institutions.
Hassan Khodr opposes another reference: decision 1065, dated 29 August 2026, which reportedly retained one supervisor for every 100 students. The League thus invokes a more recent organization, which it still considers applicable and more protective. This delay explains the challenge to a measure that the department presents as favourable.
With one supervisor for 125 students rather than 150, the theoretical burden is reduced by 25 students. But it increases as much if we retain the trade union reference of 100. In order to measure the impact on posts and hours of supervision, the number of students in each school, rounding rules, services already distributed and exceptions granted would be required.
The negotiation must therefore clarify the reference rule as well as the conditions for its application. In the absence of an establishment-by-establishment balance sheet, neither the expected savings nor a possible national decline in employment can be quantified.
Directorates ask to consider buildings
In an approach to Rima Karami, directors of public high schools asked for the data to be used as a basis for decisions. Their memorandum, published on 3 November, refers to the number of staff, the number of rooms, their size and their capacity to accommodate. It supports the objectives of rationalization, while calling for a postponement of the changes that disrupt already constituted groups.
The directors also point out that the duties of supervisors are simultaneous. They concern corridors, courses, movements between sessions and unforeseen situations. The distribution of spaces counts as much as the total number of pupils. Two buildings with the same staff may have different needs if their floors, accesses or equipment are dispersed.
The timetable reinforces the difficulty. High schools have already distributed students, stopped schedules and started evaluations. Changing divisions at this stage requires the resumption of several of these operations together. That is also why MEPs insist that the school year has entered its second month. Re-establishing this organisation mobilises managers and teachers, with a working time cost which is not necessarily included in a budget line.
Derogations for small classes
The Ministry also mentions exceptions for classes whose numbers remain below the statutory minimums. He cites 10 pupils for kindergarten, the third cycle of basic education and secondary education. The minimum announced for the first two cycles is 15 students. Geographical, security and social situations can justify adaptation, as can the existence or otherwise of a neighbouring establishment.
The third cycle corresponds to the years of basic education college, before high school. There is another provision for its presence in some secondary schools. The Ministry states that it does not allow further openings of this cycle in high schools which request it for 2026-2027. He pointed out, however, that previous situations remained unchanged for that year.
The League had proposed a minimum of seven students. For small divisions, obtaining a derogation may decide to maintain close education, especially when the grouping of pupils is difficult. The consequences will therefore depend on the authorisations granted locally. National minima do not condemn all these classes to closure, but neither do they guarantee their retention.
Strike poses a particular problem for contractors
Hamza Mansour, coordinator of the contractual teacher movement, raised another difficulty on 4 November: days without a course can result in a loss of pay for these staff. It asks that the mobilisation explicitly include the increase in the hourly rate, monthly payments and the settlement of the hours of September and October.
In his statement, he called for the application of Act No. 44 concerning the increase in contractual time. He describes teachers who continue to finance their travel despite waiting for payments. His movement denounces this expectation without providing a complete account of the state’s debts to the various categories.
Contractors must defend their future hours while awaiting payment for the work already done. For the households concerned, the difficulty is immediate. Supporting the challenge of groupings may mean giving up new paid hours, while previous payments are waiting. On this point, holders and non-holders do not address the strike under the same conditions.
Even agreement on decision 1513 would therefore leave the issue of arrears open. The maintenance of contracts and the organisation of courses, at the centre of the parliamentary recommendation, will have to be accompanied by decisions and payment deadlines to meet all requests.
Promises of review, decisions still awaited
The committee rapporteur, Edgard Traboulsi, indicated after the meeting that he had requested the suspension of the contested decisions. He reported that the Minister promised to review them and take into account the exceptions. The MP refers to a promise of review, without announcing a ministerial decision to defer.
In order to assess the consequences of the contested measures, the number of contractors will have to be reconciled with the weekly service provided to each. The needs differ according to the disciplines and the institutions: a national staff does not allow to know which hours can be reassigned or to which teachers.
The exact number of contracts involved, the hours that may change and the budgetary cost of maintaining them remain to be specified. Most of the facilities are awaiting instructions on the rules to be kept, the situations to be reviewed and the time-based services to be guaranteed. The League’s response to the parliamentary appeal will decide, for its part, the conditions for a resumption of courses.
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