Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati announced that he will convene the cabinet this week “to discuss the educational file and its urgent situation.” Public school teachers have been on strike for over three weeks in an effort to obtain improved compensation after the sharp depreciation of their salaries, despite adjustments, owing to the lira’s plummeting value on the parallel market. The strike follows a rejected salary bonus of $5 per working day. Educators are demanding adjusted salaries, a foreign currency supplement, better health care coverage, higher transport allowances and a review of contracts. Due to the cabinet’s caretaker status and the ongoing presidential vacuum, government meetings have stirred controversy, with Free Patriotic Movement-affiliated ministers boycotting the last two cabinet sessions.