January 16, 2012

Teach a Child Meets the Minister of Social Welfare

Mrs Zeina El Khalil, Mrs Ghada Abou Alwan Attallah, Mrs Tala Saad and Mrs Maha Sayegh had a meeting with Minister Wael Abou Faour at the Ministry of Social Welfare. The meeting was part of Teach A Child's effort to push for the implementation of the new compulsory education law. The minister explained to us that one of his targets was to solve the issue of street children. If the new law is well implemented, this problem will be solved. We further discussed the implementation decrees of this new law. Unfortunately, these decrees do not include any penalties so they will not be effective. The minister put us in touch with Dr. Elie Mekhael, the secretary general of the Higher Council for Childhood. The Council is preparing a new law that would solve the problem. Once ready, the law will be presented by minister Abou Faour to the cabinet. The minister gave us his full support and promised us collaboration with the Ministry whenever needed.