Teachers' protest rallies held in 100 cities; at least three arrested

Iranian teachers held their third protest rally in over 50 cities across the country on Thursday, January 13. Reports from Iran indicate that at least three people were arrested during the protests.

In continuation of the protest rallies of teachers in Iran over the past months, in accordance with the call of the Coordination Council of Iranian Teachers' Unions, a significant number of teachers gathered in more than 50 cities in Iran on the morning of Thursday, January 13, and chanted protest slogans.

The Coordination Council of Iranian Teachers' Unions in Ahvaz and Bushehr announced the names of the three detainees on Thursday: Mohsen Omrani and Mahmoud Malaki, two teachers' union activists in Bushehr, and Pirouz Nami, secretary of the board of directors of the Khuzestan Teachers' Union in Ahvaz.

It has been reported that several others have also been arrested in Ahvaz.

Part of the final statement of the rally protested the “government’s disregard for education.” In this statement, the Coordination Council of Iranian Teachers’ Unions, in addition to the “principled and complete” implementation of the ranking of teachers and the equalization of retirees, also called for “the release of imprisoned teachers, the closure of the cases of union activists, and the cessation of the summoning and interrogation of teachers by security forces and institutions.”

According to reports published on social media, teachers in Tehran gathered in front of the Islamic Consultative Assembly building and chanted slogans including "The imprisoned teacher must be released" and "Teacher, shout, shout for your rights."

In some rallies, teachers in other cities raised their pens and chanted, "The pen is my weapon" and "The pen is superior to the gun."

The most important demand of working and retired teachers in recent protest rallies is the full implementation of the ranking of 80% of university faculty for working teachers and the implementation of equalization of salaries for retired teachers.

After about ten years of uncertainty and an increase in teacher protest rallies in recent months, the teacher ranking bill was finally approved by the Iranian parliament on December 14 of this year.

In response to the passage of this bill, the spokesperson for the Teachers' Union announced that the approved bill was not approved by teachers and educators' unions and said that "nationwide teacher rallies will continue until the desired demands are met."

So far, photos of gatherings in more than 30 cities in Iran have been posted on social media, including Mashhad, Neka, Kermanshah, Sari, Tehran, Rasht, Yazd, Isfahan, Izeh, and Marivan.

Protest rallies by teachers in recent months, especially in large cities, have sometimes been accompanied by a tight security environment, violence against protesters, and the arrest of some of them.

On Thursday, some users reported "a large presence of police, security forces, and police vehicles at the entrances to the Baharestan Metro and the surrounding streets leading to the Parliament" in Tehran.

The rise of nationwide protests by educators is happening at a time when the Islamic Republic of Iran is grappling with many economic problems, including economic sanctions stemming from its nuclear activities.

According to the Statistical Center of Iran, the annual inflation rate in November was 44.4 percent, and based on official statistics from the Ministry of Labor, the average price of more than 83 percent of food items in Iran has exceeded the crisis level.

Source: Radio Farda