Parents of students studying abroad and members of the Lebanese Association for Parents of Students in Foreign Universities held a protest in front of the Banque du Liban on Tuesday at noon.
Hit by the financial crisis and bank restrictions, parents have not been able to send money to their children abroad, leaving them strapped for cash and unable to pay tuition fees and living costs.
During the protest, parents also demanded the quick application of the Student Dollar law and to protest the banks’ procrastination, reported NNA.
The Student Dollar law will allow parents to transfer up to $10,000 a year, at the 1,515 LBP/USD rate, to their children studying abroad.
These parents desperate for their children in need abroad were pushed back with force by riot police, while they insisted to meet with the Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh to demand solutions to their woes.
They are merely demanding to provide for their children with their own money that has been stuck in Lebanon’s banks for nearly a year.
This highly unfair situation imposed by the banks is not only putting the education of thousands of Lebanese students at risk but it has also propelled them under hardships to try to cover their accommodations and needs in foreign countries.
The situation is critical, although the state is not seeing it and the banks are ignoring it.