The Minister of Education in the Lebanese caretaker government, Abbas Al-Halabi, revealed the truth about the quarrel that took place on Thursday morning, between the security forces in the Ministry of Education building in Beirut, and a number of Iraqi students who came to the building to complete their transactions.
Abbas Al-Halabi told Sky News Arabia: “We are keen to preserve the dignity of every person who has a transaction or review with the ministry’s departments, which treat everyone, Lebanese and non-Lebanese without discrimination, especially the Iraqi brothers who study in Lebanese universities and submit their transactions and certificates for equivalence in the ministry.” .
Regarding the visit of an Iraqi ministerial delegation to Lebanon to follow up on the issue, Al-Halabi said: “We welcome our Iraqi brothers, and their visit will be an opportunity to clarify some outstanding issues.”
The failure of teachers’ professional organizations to end the strike in Lebanon’s schools
Incident details
Regarding the details of what happened, Al-Halabi said, “The accident occurred as a result of a shortage in the number of the ministry’s employees and the huge number of Iraqi students who went to the ministry at one time. The number of transactions that reach the ministry exceeds the employees’ ability to meet their requests.”
He continued, “Due to the attendance of employees to the ministry for two days a week only due to the strike resulting from the financial hardship the country is suffering from, especially among public administration employees, huge numbers of Lebanese and Arab students, and Iraqis in particular, flock to the pre-university equivalency departments, and university equivalencies and endorsements.” .
He pointed out that “the guards of the ministry building were surprised by a noise at five thirty in the morning of Thursday, and it became clear to them the presence of more than 100 Iraqi students, and a dispute arose between them about the right to enter the ministry and the doors are still closed at dawn,” explaining that “the guards tried to calm them down after the residents came out.” surrounding buildings to balconies.”
The problem occurred when Iraqi students tried to review their files, after they complained about the delay in attesting their transactions and university certificates. Videos showed members of the Lebanese security shouting at the students, while asking them to back down.
Ministry explains
And an explanatory statement issued by the Ministry of Education, on Thursday evening, stated that “when the ministry opened its doors to receive citizens and auditors at eight in the morning, a huge number of Iraqi students entered at once, so that the entrance to the equations department crowded them.”
He added that “those concerned tried to organize the entry, after they took the passports and called them by name.”
According to the statement, the head of the Pre-University Equivalency Department confirmed that “the department’s employees come to the ministry for 5 days, unlike all employees who come for only two days, and receive transactions over 3 days instead of two.”
She also indicated that “the Equivalency Committee convenes on Friday to decide on applications, which are at a rate of 500 applications per week, including 200 for Iraqis and the rest for Lebanese and other nationalities.”
She explained: “The department received, over the course of a year, about 6,000 Iraqi applications for equivalency, and about 10,000 incomplete applications that were not equalized, in light of strikes, forced closures, cases of illness, and high fuel prices.”
The statement added: “The Iraqi embassy in Beirut had organized, in cooperation with the ministry, a record to receive 50 equivalency requests for Iraqis per day, and 50 others as special requests from the embassy for diplomats and senior Iraqi employees, but this organization did not last long due to the lack of commitment of Iraqi students to it, and the insistence on Attendance outside of the specified deadlines.
And he continued: “Suddenly, one of the Iraqi youths who were reviewing fell to the ground and fainted, and the stampede continued over the priority of entry, and a number of Iraqi students cooperated with the Internal Security Forces and the building’s security guards to persuade the rushing students to back down to lift the young man off the ground, but they did not back down.”
This led, according to the statement, to “push a member of the security forces to raise his voice, carrying a piece of the fence that controls the line to persuade them to back down, and after this movement, the young man was treated by the Lebanese Red Cross.”
Private university sources told “Sky News Arabia” that “the crisis that occurred today was the result of thousands of students attending in person, at the request of the ministry, to complete the procedures for attesting secondary certificates in person, to reveal the truth of their residence in Lebanon.”
Iraqi ministerial committee to Lebanon
On Thursday evening, local media reported that “an Iraqi ministerial committee may arrive in Lebanon in the next few hours, under the guidance of Iraq’s Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Naeem al-Aboudi, with the aim of following up student affairs.”
In a related context, private sources confirmed to Sky News Arabia, “The Prime Minister in Lebanon, Najib Mikati, is closely following the matter.”
Despite the crisis, the number of non-Lebanese students has increased
- Educational sources in higher education indicated, to “Sky News Arabia”, that “despite the poor economic conditions, student delegations, especially those with Arab nationalities, are still heading towards Lebanese universities.”
- Arab students are distributed in various private universities. For example, Beirut Arab University includes a large number of Palestinian and Syrian students, and a small number of Iraqi students.
- Foreign universities have similar numbers, while newly established private universities include many Iraqi students.
- According to private sources, the number of Iraqi students exceeds other nationalities in Lebanon, as a result of pursuing their university education remotely or with a low attendance rate.
