Hear my last word,
There will be no studying this year!
You who don't speak out - why?
Have you taken what you are owed by right?
Hassan Dawoud, from Bassyoun, Gharbeya Governorate
We're saying that concern for teachers
is concern for the entire State system.
A teacher either gives private lessons [in addition to regular teaching] or has a second profession:
as a peasant farmer, or a day laborer
Teachers work as day laborers for their pupils' families!
This is what happens in our area.
If a teacher doesn't give private lessons, he works as a taxi driver or a toktok driver,
or he sits idle, or he works as a painter.
I'm stuck, really feeling the squeeze.
After I finish teaching my classes, I work as a day laborer of any kind, so as to feed my children.
I find my energy is spent outside the school.
They expect me to teach the schoolkids, but I can't feed my own children!
How can I teach the school kids?
People in the media don't have a sense of teachers' problems.
They say primary school children don't know how to read or write.
That's not the teachers' fault, it's the law's fault.
No matter what I do, by law, 1st-graders have to be admitted into 2nd grade at the end of the year,
even if they never come to class.
Mohammad Ebeid, social worker in Etay el-Baroud educational administration, Beheira Governorate
I'd just like to give a glimpse of this to the consultants, ministers and big shots sitting in their air-conditioned offices.
I want them to look at the hundreds or thousands of teachers here today.
Look at their clothes. That should give you an idea of teachers' standard of living.
You are filming today. Please film the teachers, their clothes in particular,
which show their standard of living, their means.
There are people who are paid thousands, tens of thousands of EGP
Consultants at the Ministry, and in all the country's ministries.
A teacher works as a plumber, blacksmith, barber, farmer or metalworker in the morning,
and in the afternoon he is expected to teach school.
They say they're bringing in petroleum - but where do they get it from?
[Crowds:] From here!
Where does the gold come from? Who does the Suez canal belong to?
Give me 100 pounds, give us all 100 pounds, and we'll go home -
but on one condition: salaries should be same for everyone in all ministries,
instead of some getting 100 LE and some 100,000 LE!
Those pashas sitting inside in air-conditioned offices take 100,000 or 200,000 LE salaries!
To this day, some people still don't receive the mininum wage!
And there is still no implementation of a legal maximum wage!
Teachers with temporary or adjunct contracts have not been given permanent contracts.
They earn as little 200 or 300 LE a month. You can't live on that.
They should be given permanent contracts and paid minimum wages.
Mahmoud Orabi, union committee member and principal of Abd el-Mun'im Riyad Middle School.
I swear to God, we don't want to give private lessons.
May God be the judge of those who compel us to.
I am a school principal, and I have to go round people's houses [giving private lessons].
I'm not happy with this situation.
[Sign:] We're not asking for enormous salaries We just want dignity and peace of mind
The State budget is 560 billion EGP while the education budget is 62 billion EGP.
This budget is one of the lowest around. It's backward. There is no scientific research here.
We demand that the system be changed, corrected, developed.
We live with the worst of injustice, humiliation and oppression.
Living this way, it's as if we weren't Egyptians at all.
We want the education budget to be 25% of the State budget.
The current budget is so low it's ridiculous.
I voted for Morsi. Now I regret having voted for him. Absolutely.
That's how it is!
Give me enough to live on!
And keep your campaign promises!
Mr Abd al-Hameed el-Imam, secondary school teacher, Minyet Samannout, Daqahleya Governorate.
During the revolution, teachers didn't rebel or demand higher salaries, out of concern for the country.
When they tried to speak out, leaders insulted them.
I will speak to these leaders from a religious angle. When the Caliph Omar II took power,
his wife came to see him and found him weeping. She asked him why.
He said, "I fear God will ask me what I did for the paupers, those in need, the weak, the sick. What will I answer?"
People ask this of our leaders - how will they answer God? Where these people's rights?
They'd say they spent millions on yesterday's Super football match.
Whilst these poor people have not received what they've a right to.
They'll say they won't enforce the maximum wage ceiling, because people more powerful than them in the State system oppose it.
But Morsi fired Tantawi, and the most powerful people in the country. So what's his excuse?
In Mubarak's day, any loan offered came with conditions, including implementing [development] projects.
But politicians used these projects for their own ends.
This loan is a chance for them to make money at our expense.
I'm Sabry Barqy from East Alexandria administration
We, Egypt's teachers, are demanding the most basic rights:
that the revolution's goals be implemented. Where is social justice?
No society will ever rise up without a renaissance in the field of education.
And this requires a renaissance for teachers themselves.
Education must be at least 25% of state spending.
Malaysia and other countries did not experience a renaissance until they educated their people.
The IMF loan is not necessary.
First of all, there were those private funds here - what happened to them? To the money held there?
We heard about them, then they disappeared.
Secondly, this country has valuable resources - those sweet Dahab mangoes, where have they gone?
Where are these resources?
What about the lands stolen by the NDP bunch and the big corrupt figures of the previous regime?
Why are these cases neglected, why are the trials not expedited? Where are the judges?
Why are they being patient with these people? Their lands should be nationalized.
These funds belong to the people. Revolutionary decisions must be implemented.
They must be returned to the people, in order to finance a renaissance.
The country is plentiful. We don't need a loan.
We are from all of Egypt's governorates. Sharqiyya, Menoufiyya, Aswan and all of Upper Egypt
and from Cairo and Giza.
All of Egypt's governorates are here today.
[Sign:] Hold your head up high, you're a teacher
State funds to educate our children! Not for nepotism and corruption!
Education is everyone's right.
Fight for your rights.
Liars are stealing our livelihood.