Review of Teacher Ranking Bill in Parliament Education Commission in Absence of Education Minister

The teacher ranking bill, which has faced objections from the Guardian Council and criticism from teachers, was reviewed once again in the Education Commission of the Islamic Consultative Assembly on Monday, the 18th of Bahman.

Yousef Nouri, the Minister of Education, was absent from this meeting, and his absence drew criticism.

The teacher ranking bill was approved by the Islamic Consultative Assembly on the 24th of Azar and was sent to the Guardian Council for confirmation. However, with the objections raised by the council, it has been returned to parliament.

According to reports, the main objections raised by the Guardian Council regarding the teacher ranking bill relate to the financial burden of implementing this bill.

The Education, Research, and Technology Commission of parliament held a meeting on Monday, the 18th of Bahman, to review these objections. The Minister of Education was absent from the meeting, which prompted criticism from some representatives.

Mohammad Molavi, Vice-Chairman of the Education Commission of parliament, considered the absence of Yousef Nouri from today’s commission meeting as evidence of his “negligence” toward the teacher ranking bill and “unjustifiable.”

Mohammad Molavi said on Monday, the 18th of Bahman, to the National Parliament News Agency: “The Minister of Education was invited as the main guest of the session, because according to Article 75, the presence of the Minister of Education was mandatory for approving clauses that carry financial burden, but he did not attend.”

He further added: “Given that the Vice President accepted the allocation of 25 thousand billion tomans for the implementation of the teacher ranking bill in a session in the open parliament, but this matter has not been officially announced to the Guardian Council, the main concerns of the council relate to the financial burden of implementing the teacher ranking bill, and for this reason, the presence of the minister as the government’s representative in today’s education commission meeting was of great importance.”

This parliament representative attributed the delay in presenting the teacher ranking bill to the open parliament session to the absence of the Minister of Education from this meeting and subsequently announced his readiness to initiate an impeachment process against him.

The performance of Yousef Nouri, Minister of Education in the Raisi government, has also been criticized by educators, and teachers in their protest gatherings have called for Yousef Nouri’s resignation.

The approval and implementation of the teacher ranking plan is among the main demands of educators, who have held several nationwide gatherings in dozens of Iranian cities in recent months.

According to this bill, which was approved by the Islamic Consultative Assembly on the 24th of Azar, if a teacher’s salary is less than 80 percent of the salary of a rank-one faculty member at Tehran University, the difference will be considered as “adjustment difference” for him.

However, teachers describe this bill as “patchwork” and say that it does not meet the ceiling of their demands.

Teachers have stated that they will continue to hold protest gatherings until their demands are met.

Active and retired educators say their income is below the poverty line and they are demanding an end to discrimination.

Source: Voice of America