Libyan school teachers have always had a notorious reputation for a mediocre performance and an appalling quality of teaching. So what is the reason behind that? Are teachers just slacking off? Or there is a reason for this pattern. Well! We all know that teachers have always been mocked and discredited by the society because of common perception held by people of those who decide to pursue a teaching career; they consider the job of a teacher an inferior one, for they think that a good job means being a doctor or an engineer, but never a teacher.
Despite all the ungrateful attitudes towards teachers, there seems to be another reason why teachers perform poorly at school. Being curious myself and yearning to uncover this mystery, I decided to do some researching to find information about the conditions and earnings of teachers elsewhere in the globe and I came down to this shocking revelation; Libyan teachers are not doing well because of the money they are paid. Our Libyan teachers are paid the lowest salaries for the sizeable amount of effort they are putting in to raise and educate the future generations in this country. Here is a comparison between the monthly payments of beginning teachers (with no experience) and experienced teachers in Libya and elsewhere in the region and the world. Both categories of teachers have bachelor’s degrees in their chosen fields:
| Country | Beginning teachers US. Dollars $ | Experienced teachers US. Dollars $ |
| United Arab Emirates | 3350 | 5500 |
| United States of America | 2975 | 4500 |
| United Kingdom | 2600 | 4050 |
| Libya | 144 | 360 |
A Study by World of Education 2005
From this study, we realize that Libya is paying the lowest salaries among the four countries shown above, and this is the reason of the mediocrity of our school teachers. It is true that teachers should be well-qualified, inspiring, resourceful and dedicated, but these fine features seem not to be covered by such a low salary. This is why the best teachers decide to find other jobs that pay more, and we end up with recruiting less qualified teachers in the sector. One may challenge my investigation and say Libya is not like the other three countries which enjoy free economy and democracy, so I hold my argument further and say that Libya should be at the same level of the other three for a simple reason; Libya is an oil-rich country and has the third biggest oil reservoir in Africa and we come third on the list of oil-exporting countries in the Middle East after Saudi Arabia and Algeria. In addition. In Libya itself and over the last five years there have been people whom are paid big salaries for the same effort teachers make. Let’s take an engineer who works at a telecommunications company, he is paid around 1200 Libyan Dinars ($960) as a beginning salary and the salary goes up to 1600 Libyan Dinars ($1280) as he gets more experienced on the job. Or let’s take a doctor who works at a hospital, he is paid around 900 Libyan Dinars ($720). Aren’t teachers the same people who taught those who became engineers and doctors at school? Can engineers and doctors ever fulfill their accomplishments today without being taught by teachers?. The answer is simply NO. the teacher’s job is a fine and crucial one, but unfortunately little recognition is given to it.
Today as we plan for a democratic and constitutional Libya, and with all the reforms that we are committed to undertaking, the sector of education should be given the priority ,for a Free Libya begins with a better educational system where teachers feel the appreciation and the gratitude for the effort they are making. In our Free Libya teachers should be paid decent salaries for the work they do to initiate our children, equal to those paid to teachers in other countries, and to other professions in Libya.
By Maad M. El-gali
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