Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - Prime Minister Awn Khasawneh on Tuesday commended lawmakers and the heads of the House finance and education committees for their "tireless" efforts that largely helped to end a 10-day strike by public school teachers.

Teachers and government representatives have struck a compromise deal at a meeting last night under which the teachers will get a 15-percent increase in basic salary this year as well as another 15 percent next year in addition to a 70-percent already endorsed in a public sector salary restructuring scheme. That met their demand of a 100 percent raise. "I hope that this solution that has take place will be a good start for the students, parents and teachers," he said In comments during the House's debate of the state budget draft.

"We want to present this agreement between the government and teachers as a gift to His Majesty King Abdullah, and we thank him for his many royal gestures," head of the House Financial and Economic Committee Ayman Majali told the session at the start of a third day in a marathon debate of the budget law.

Majali also thanked the prime minister and the ministers of education, labour, legal affairs and public sector development for their "enormous" efforts and patience in dealing with the standoff despite scarce resources and budgetary strains.

Majali hailed the lawmakers' promptness and painstaking efforts to address the teachers grievances, pleading with teachers to make up for the lessons missed over the past weeks and persevere to develop education "so as not to see those efforts go in vain."


*Petra