Libyan teaching assistants protest over low salaries

Teaching assistants at universities, technical colleges and higher institutes in Libya held a protest in front of the government offices in Tripoli to demand salary increases and educational opportunities.

The protest, on 12 December, followed a call to action on 9 December by the coordinating organisation of teaching assistants in the higher education and technical education sector in Libya.

“We have noticed the marginalisation of teaching assistants and the disregard for their demands to improve their financial conditions [in comparison with that of other employees in the higher education sector],” the coordinating body said in a statement.

Walid Salem Ahmed, the head of the teaching assistants group at the Azzaytouna University branch and the legal adviser for teaching assistants at Libyan universities, told University World News via Facebook messenger that, despite teaching assistants being the future professors and scientific workforce, the ministry of higher education considers them as temporary workers.

“If the ministry continues to neglect our financial and educational demands and not respond to us, we will consider other ways to claim our legitimate rights,” Ahmed pointed out. These, he said, included strikes, sit-ins and legal actions.

Teaching assistants are postgraduate students employed by higher education institutions with teaching-related responsibilities including tutoring, overseeing tests or exams work, and teaching students in laboratories or small classes.

Teaching assistants’ turn

Engineer Walid Gashout, the president of the Students Organisation of Private Higher Education in Libya, told University World News: “Protests of teaching assistants come in light of the weak presence of the state.

“The salary problem is caused by the lack of strategic planning during the past years emanating from the selection of officials according to the criteria of regional quotas, not professionalism and efficiency,” Gashout said.

Assistant Professor Ahmed Atia, the director of the faculty affairs office at the faculty of medical technology, University of Tripoli, Libya, told University World News the Libyan Prime Minister raised salaries in some sectors based on inflation, leading to other sectors asking: “What about us?”.

Libyan professors ended protests for better pay and conditions and resumed classes on 13 November after the government agreed to increase their overtime by about 50% and wages by 70%, according to a Libyan cabinet resolution.

“Now it’s the teaching assistants’ turn,” Atia said.

Teaching staff members’ salaries cannot cover their daily living costs, especially after the devaluation of the Libyan dinar. While a teaching assistant earns US$300 per month, a faculty member earns about US$600 to US$1,200, according to Atia.

Stunted career development

Atia also pointed out that the suspension of scholarships for teaching assistants a decade ago has made it impossible for them to further their studies.

This, he said, has not only harmed career development for teaching assistants but also negatively affected the quality of university education.

Atia’s views are supported by the June 2020 study, ‘State of Higher Education in Libya: A game change administrative approach’, which indicated the lack of qualified teaching staff as one of the main challenges facing Libyan higher education, which needed to be overcome by the boosting of postgraduate and doctoral education.

“It is time for the ministry of higher education and scientific research, along with the ministry of technical education, to start the scholarship programme especially after the government, on 21 November, approved an amount of 80 million Libyan dinar (about US$17.5 million) to cover postgraduate studies programmes at Libyan universities and an amount of LYD296.5 million to fund postgraduate studies abroad,” Atia indicated.

The Libyan Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research did not respond to queries from University World News.