This is for a simple reason. The time that we welcomed the elections has passed for years. What is going on now is the repetition of a riddle that nobody understands.
Many questions need to be answered: Who is a municipal council member? What is his role? Where can I meet him after the elections? What are his plans? How will he help us develop our residential districts that are empty apart from our houses? What are my duties and rights toward him?
The answer to all these questions is: I do not know... We do not know... They do not know!
The municipal councils seem for us to correspond to the work of the committees that are not more than a forum for getting together, where members practice public relations with the party that has formed the committees.
The PR campaign may extend to a third party, which are the visiting delegations. You and me, and people like us are completely out of the circle.
Why, then, should I register for the municipal elections if I do not know their aims, objectives or aspirations?
I suggest that all candidates go back to the concept of direct elections. No need for all those campaigns in the absence of understanding and harmony. Please surprise us by nominating whom you consider suitable. We will know about the appointment of your candidate from the congratulations that will be published in local newspapers!
Another issue, nobody understands how the Ministry of Education will implement the decision of the Council of Ministers to start teaching the English language from the fourth elementary grade. What will the ministry do, bearing in mind that we are only four months away from the beginning of the next academic year? How will it prepare the syllabuses for the fourth and fifth grades in this little time? How will the ministry develop the syllabus of the sixth grade that needs to be completely revamped in order to comply with what the students have studied in the fourth and fifth grade?
On a personal level, and despite the fact that I have been away from the field of education for many years, I have submitted a paper two years ago about the subjects that needed development in the syllabus.
I fear that the same mistakes may be repeated because of the hastiness in coming out with the textbook, to be prepared by senior educationalists. We usually assume that those who teach the syllabus are qualified teachers, forgetting that most of them are just diploma holders.
The net result is that we do not understand the municipal elections nor the teaching of the English language from the fourth elementary grade. Actions directly affecting the lives of the people should be clear, transparent and understandable.
