First Day of Second Round of Teachers’ Sit-in in Iran

A large number of teachers across the country, in response to a call from the “Coordination Council of Teachers’ Professional Associations,” abstained from holding their classes. It does not appear that the government will be able to resolve teachers’ problems in the near future.

The second round of Iran’s teachers’ sit-in began on Tuesday, November 13 (22 Aban) with a protest gathering of a large number of teachers. This round of sit-in, which is being held at the call of the “Coordination Council of Teachers’ Professional Associations,” will last two days.

In its call, this council declared the objectives of this protest movement to be: ensuring and securing a fair budget for implementing the law on management of public services, eliminating discrimination against active and retired teachers, implementing Article 30 of the Constitution, providing free education, implementing the second phase of ranking, halting the full-time teacher plan, stopping the process of profiling and suppressing teachers, and freeing imprisoned teachers.

This council hopes that through the second round of sit-in, “the rulers will be forced to fulfill their constitutional duties toward students and ensure free, quality, and fair education, and will no longer attack the livelihood and dignity of teachers.”

Positive Response to Protest in Various Provinces

According to Hrana news agency, on Tuesday, many teachers in various provinces including East Azerbaijan, Ardabil, Isfahan, Alborz, Bushehr, Tehran, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, Khuzestan, Fars, Qazvin, Kurdistan, Kermanshah, Gilan, Mazandaran, Hamadan, and Yazd abstained from attending their classes.

In Hrana’s report, it was stated that protesting teachers wrote slogans on their placards such as “We protest the state of education,” “We protest the state of livelihood,” “No to discrimination,” “Poverty line 6 million tomans, teachers’ salaries 2 million tomans,” “Rouhani-Larijanis, where is coordinated system,” “No to full-time teacher plan,” “Abolish class differences,” “Improve teachers’ dignity and livelihood,” “No to private education,” “Free education is the right of Iran’s children,” “Mother tongue education,” “Freedom for imprisoned teachers,” “School safety,” “Stop profiling activists in the profession.”

Narges Mohammadi, Vice President of the Human Rights Defenders Center who is imprisoned, has expressed support for this sit-in. In a message of solidarity, Ms. Mohammadi stated: “The children of this land learn ‘f r e e d o m’ from their teachers, and the freedom of teachers depends on realizing their freedom of expression and thought. The children of this land learn ‘p e a c e’ and ‘h a p p i n e s s’ from their teachers, and teachers’ happiness lies in realizing their human existence.”

Iranian teachers had also staged a two-day sit-in in Mehr of this year.

“Structural Deficit” in Education Budget

Teachers’ protests are not new, and it does not appear that the government can find a solution to resolve education problems in the near future.

Ali Allahyar Turkman, Deputy Minister for Management Development and Support at the Ministry of Education, addressed teachers’ problems at the beginning of this solar year while speaking with journalists and stated: “The education budget has a structural deficit and the government has also confirmed this. We have asked representatives to give special consideration to plans with financial burdens, especially hiring, in 1397 and help education manage the budget.”

This government official also stated regarding supplementary insurance for teachers: “Because education does not have welfare assistance credits, we were forced to implement it as a fund, which is not effective for the teaching community in the long term. We are currently talking with insurance companies to set a specific tariff for us. More than one million people use insurance in this ministry, and insurance companies should consider a special package for us.”

The Deputy Minister for Management Development and Support at the Ministry of Education clarified: “We have one trillion tomans in transferred claims carried over to 1397, three trillion tomans in structural budget deficit, and 3.7 trillion tomans in end-of-service awards deficit. For end-of-service awards and settling claims, one percent of companies’ budgets have been allocated, and we hope the Ministry of Economy and Finance will take action for its payment.”

Interestingly, Ali Allahyar Turkman stated at the same press conference that a large number of state companies are unprofitable, and the Ministry of Education is concerned that “given the performance in 1396, how this amount will be secured in 1397, as five trillion tomans budget must be provided this way.”

Source: DW