Teachers demand a minimum wage of 300 pounds

The official statistics agency in Egypt has revealed that there has been an increase of almost 4% in school teachers for 2010/2011 compared to 2009/2010. This means there are now a million teachers in Egyptian schools, as opposed to 996,000 in 2009/2010. These statistics come as Egyptian teachers have been protesting in order to gain a minimum wage of 300 EGP per month – equivalent to about £30. The agency revealed the new figures on the World Teacher Day. The study revealed that there was an average of 19 students for 1 teacher in 2010/2011 in public education, as opposed to 18 students for one teacher the previous year. In primary education, there is an average of 25 students for one teacher. Azhari students are privileged in this sense, as there are only 11 students per teacher. The Egyptian government claims that granting a minimum wage of 300 EGP to teachers will negatively impact the budget deficit. Others claim that new jobs in teaching need to be created in order to cope with the increasing number of students. Some also demand the government to raise their education budget to 25%.