How to Solve the Teachers' Problem? My Nationalism Will Remind Me When Matters Become Serious... And in the Dark Night, the Full Moon Is Missed
What transpired within the corridors of the Ministry of Education was not a matter of chance. The objections to the transfer decisions were entirely foreseeable. Anyone with sound judgment would have no doubt that the situation would deteriorate beyond the initial decisions to transfer teachers. Since technical supervisors were sidelined from their role in transfers and recruitment, it became clear that their previous duties—visiting schools to closely assess budgetary needs and realities—were crucial. While teacher budgets may appear excessive on paper, supervisors would know, for instance, that a particular female teacher is pregnant and will give birth in a few months, or that a male teacher is tutoring his own children in nearby schools and is responsible for their transportation. Social media has been flooded over recent days with hundreds of genuine and spurious excuses. Supervisors sit with school principals, department heads, and teachers, enabling them to distinguish each school’s actual needs from illusory ones.
In this context, I wrote in one of my books, “Leaves and Thorns,” about the difference between information and knowledge. Knowledge is about “how,” whereas information is about “how much.” Knowledge is a deep methodology acquired through mentorship from a teacher or professor, involving a profound understanding of circumstances, an academic environment, and the passage of time. Information, by contrast, is readily available in books and online but does not provide genuine insight into real-life conditions.
To clarify, consider an identity card issued by the Civil Status Department. It provides quantitative information about a person—name, age, marital status, number of children, and teaching load—but it does not reveal the qualitative aspects of their life: their personal circumstances, how they live, whether they are ill, if they truly reside in the claimed area, or the nature of their personality. Knowing the essence of a person constitutes true knowledge, whereas information is merely quantitative and insufficient for understanding the actual conditions of teachers.
Therefore, transfer decisions cannot be measured solely by information and departmental budgets without genuine, firsthand knowledge of each school’s specific situation and a close assessment of teachers’ conditions. This can only be achieved by reactivating the role of technical supervisors, who were excluded from the transfer and recruitment process, and by not leaving the matter to superficial data that fails to address the real needs of teachers commuting to work or traveling in heavy traffic.
In my view—and not all conjecture is sinful—what has been implemented bears no relation to sound logic, nor does it meet needs that should be addressed with genuine knowledge of female teachers. Decisions regarding needs and transfers require an understanding of each teacher’s situation and should offer alternatives to fill gaps based on proximity and distance, prioritizing human considerations over legalistic ones for those burdened with responsibility. I hope we are not among those who put their fingers in their ears and cloak themselves in denial, ignoring the tragedies whose echoes have permeated media and social platforms. The poet’s words come to mind: “Those are a people who, if they build, build well; if they make a covenant, they fulfill it; if they tie a knot, they tighten it. Spare your father’s father, or fill the place they have filled!”
