Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - The Amman Teachers' Committee, part of the teachers' national effort to revive a professional association for teachers, said on Saturday that teachers' committees are seriously considering boycotting the upcoming parliamentary elections, a measure that will be announced in coordination with other teachers' committees in the kingdom's governorates.

In a statement issued on Saturday, the Amman Teachers' Committee criticized the new Minister of Education, Dr. Khaled Al Karaki, for "not fixing the damaging measures perpetrated by the previous Minister of Education, Ibrahim Badran."

The statement expressed that teachers throughout the kingdom were optimistic when cabinet members were reshuffled to replace Badran, yet such optimism and hopes are fading as [Al Karaki] announced in a press conference that the ministry has no intention to repeal the "arbitrary" measures practiced against teachers, including early retirement and moving teachers to distant school districts.

The statement stressed that teachers have a constitutional right to revive a professional association, which was once standing in 1954, noting that they will not back down from their demands to establish an association that would safeguard their rights and regulate their affairs, “despite all the government’s arbitrary measures against our colleagues.”

"The decision to participate or boycott the elections is dependent on the position of our teacher colleagues throughout the kingdom, noting that we are provisionally leaning towards a boycott."

A decision to boycott the elections will widen the base of national movements that have announced their intent to collectively boycott the upcoming parliamentary elections scheduled for November 9th, including the Muslim Brotherhood, Islamic Action Front, and the Retired Military Personnel Committee, and the Popular Unity Political Party, among others.