Libyan authorities have announced the detention of Education Minister Ali al-Abed on charges of negligence in connection with a nationwide school textbook shortage that has sparked widespread public outrage.
In a statement issued on Saturday night, the Office of the Prosecutor General confirmed that both Minister al-Abed and the head of the Ministry’s School Programmes Department had been placed under preventive detention pending investigations into alleged mismanagement and harm to the public interest, including violations of students’ right to education.
The probe centers on irregularities in the printing contracts for textbooks for the 2025–2026 academic year. Prosecutors said investigators had uncovered administrative and financial anomalies in the awarding of contracts, as well as a failure to ensure the timely delivery of learning materials to nearly two million students.
The scandal has left a deep mark on Libya’s already strained education system. The new school year began over a month late, forcing parents of more than 2.6 million students to pay for photocopied materials while waiting for official textbooks.
This is the second time in a year that Libya’s Education Ministry has faced such controversy. Al-Abed’s predecessor, Moussa al-Megarief, was sentenced in March 2025 to three and a half years in prison over a similar case involving mismanagement and delays in the printing of textbooks.
Textbooks in Libya’s public schools are typically provided free of charge up to the end of secondary education, funded through a dedicated allocation in the national education budget.
The ongoing scandal has intensified calls for greater transparency and accountability within Libya’s interim government as the country continues to navigate post-conflict reconstruction and governance challenges.
