Libyan teachers’ strike escalates as union demands major education reforms

School year is on hold with teachers on strike and other unions threatening to take action.Teachers in Libya have escalated their protests over salaries into an open-ended strike at public schools.Protests began on September 13, the day the school year was due to start. Sit-ins were held outside schools and government buildings in the capital, Tripoli.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Libya’s brain drain, 15 years after Tripoli felllist 2 of 3Rival Libya factions sign deal to hold national elections within two yearslist 3 of 3‘Dire situation’: Lebanese prisoners on hunger strike for 18 daysend of listTwo weeks later, Libya’s teachers union stepped up the campaign with a nationwide strike. It has kept students out of classrooms across the country.On Sunday, several Libyan unions representing other sectors threatened to join the strike unless the government entered talks to address a cost of living crisis.Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah of the internationally recognised Government of National Unity (GNU) in Tripoli met with cabinet members to discuss a response to this crisis.Libya has struggled with economic and political instability since a 2011 uprising ended the rule of late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.The strikes are occurring on both sides of Libya’s political divide: its western region, governed by the GNU, and its eastern region, which is under the control of renegade military commander Khalifa Haftar’s self-described Libyan National Army.In April, the rival legislative bodies of both sides agreed a unified budget for the first time.Here’s what we know about the dispute:What are teachers demanding?Teachers said they are facing declining salaries, unpaid arrears, insufficient benefits and deteriorating school conditions.They demanded an immediate halt to what they called the “erosion of workers’ incomes”, citing deteriorating economic and living conditions.