CAIRO - Forced to keep their children at home as the teachers continue with their strike, parents across the nation have taken matters into their own hands by threatening the teachers with violence, if they don't go back to the classrooms, succeeding where the Government has failed for the past six days. Parents in places like Aswan in Upper Egypt woke up early Wednesday morning and went in their hundreds to their children's schools, armed with sticks and clubs. Outside the schools, they raised their weapons and threatened to beat the teachers if they refuse to teach their children. "Schools are not the right place for strikes," said a father in Aswan. "Teachers have to teach our children or we will kick them out of their jobs.” This is people power, something that has become very common in Egypt since massive demonstrations forced this country's long-serving despot out of office in February. This people power, however, has proved to be ineffective in other parts of Egypt, where the teachers continue to stay away from school, leaving tens of thousands of pupils with nothing to do all day. The teachers started their strike as millions of children returned to school last Saturday, demanding a pay rise and better working conditions. On Wednesday, the Prime Minister of the caretaker Government, Essam Sharaf, met with Education Minister Ahmed Moussa before an early morning Cabinet meeting. Sharaf and Moussa were trying to find a way out of a crisis that has seen lessons grind to a halt at hundreds of schools. Moussa on Tuesday downplayed the effect of the teachers' strike on the educational process this academic year, saying in a TV interview that only 3 per cent of schools have been affected by the strike. "This is not to underestimate the problem, but we do not need to blow things out of proportion," Moussa argued. Even with this, the teachers are still very angry, vowing to continue striking until the Government solves their problems. "The pupils shouldn't go to school because the teachers are continuing to strike," said Abdel-Rahman Fawzi, a schoolteacher from Assiut. He and his colleagues have pasted posters to the walls of their school, complaining about their low salaries and their deteriorating living conditions.
