Ministry of Education: “The Poorest Government Ministry”

The Minister of Education says that no minister since the revolution has been able to solve the livelihood problems of teachers. According to teachers, the Ministry of Education, burdened with numerous unresolved problems, is the poorest government ministry.

The start of the new academic year on the first of Mehr this year has provided an opportunity for the problems of educators and the education ministry to be reflected in society and media. Teachers have called for improved living conditions and an end to wage discrimination between themselves and other government employees.

Ali Asghar Fani, the Minister of Education, promises that this year, one of the ministry’s priorities will be teachers’ livelihood.

Officials have spoken about injustices and wage inequality between teachers and other ministry employees. Ahmad Hamti, representative of the people of Semnan, Mehdishahr and Sorkheh in parliament, says: “One group whose rights have truly been violated are educators, and we hope to move in a direction that reduces these injustices.”

Seyyed Mahdi Moghadasi, representative of the people of Arak, Komijan and Khondaq in parliament, also states that insufficient attention has been given to the education budget and “teacher salaries should be reconsidered so that they do not face problems due to inflation like other segments of society.”

Teachers’ Wages Not Aligned with Inflation Rate

On the eve of the 1395-1396 academic year, the Minister of Education admitted that no minister since the revolution has been able to solve the livelihood problems of teachers.

One of the unresolved problems facing Iranian teachers is the misalignment of their wages with inflation rates. According to Article 125 of the Civil Service Management Law, the government must increase employee salaries annually according to the official inflation rate.

Therefore, as the inflation rate increases, teacher salaries should increase proportionally, but according to teachers, this has never been fully implemented, even during President Rouhani’s administration. Consequently, teachers’ livelihood problems have continuously worsened as inflation rates have risen. The Teachers’ Professional Association has repeatedly protested the non-implementation of this law, but their complaints have yet to yield results.

Teachers protest that the government does not treat them equally with other ministry employees, and bonuses and benefits for teachers are less than those of other government ministry employees. In response to ministry employees, Fani, the Minister of Education, says “since the eleventh government took office, average teacher salaries have grown by 85 percent.” However, some teachers, in conversations with Deutsche Welle, did not confirm the minister’s statements. They said that especially the benefits teachers receive are less than employees of other government institutions.

Shahid Alavi, a former member of the Teachers’ Professional Association, says: “Teaching is not a high-income profession and a teacher is forced to take on a second job. Teachers’ problems stem from wages and benefits not being proportional to the work they do and not matching their educational level. This also affects education and causes a teacher to lack sufficient energy and motivation for teaching. On the other hand, the teacher-student relationship also suffers.”

This former teacher adds: “Iran’s official statistics show that the daily productive work hours of employees is less than one hour. In comparison, teachers work at least 3 hours of productive work daily. However, a teacher with a teacher’s salary cannot afford expenses such as rent and other necessities of life.”

Shahid Alavi also points out in his conversation with Deutsche Welle: “Education is a labor-intensive organization with high costs and should not be viewed as a consumptive institution. This consumptive approach is a mistake. People think that any money spent there is wasted.”

This expert further emphasizes: “The system’s approach to education is a traditional one, the same approach applied to seminaries, while education is a modern institution and cannot be addressed with this traditional approach.”

According to this expert, solving teachers’ livelihood problems is part of the broader set of the country’s educational problems. According to Alavi, the Rouhani government has been unable to do anything in this regard over the past three years because solving the education problem “requires changes in the country’s laws and a change in the entire political system’s approach to education.”

Retired Teachers Have Been Forgotten

Ms. Aleh Bahrami, a retired literature and social sciences teacher from Tehran, told Deutsche Welle that retired teachers are among the poorest segments of society and their problems and livelihood issues have been forgotten. She adds: “Pensions are lower than the salaries of employees in almost all ministries, and I don’t know why, regardless of any law they want to use to moderate them, it cannot be done.”

This retired education employee continues: “One of the hardships of retired teachers is medical expenses. Because due to advanced age, their costs increase significantly and much of their pensions goes to buying medicine. Unfortunately, insurance and supplementary insurance do not cover expensive doctor visits, including dentistry and eyeglasses. Even the cost of prescription payments is capped annually for us. The pension is insufficient, especially if retired teachers are renters, and this salary does not align with inflation in any way.”

“There is not a day that retired teachers are not protesting”

According to this former teacher, retired teachers have not remained idle in solving their livelihood problems. She explains: “There is not a day when retirees are not protesting in front of parliament and ministries. Unfortunately, our situation has not changed during Rouhani’s time either. Now, like before, only 12 percent is added to pensions every year. Whereas we expected 20 percent to be added to salaries this year, but apparently everyone was forgiven again and we received 12 percent again. Another problem for us is the lack of transparency in salary slips. I have no idea what is deducted from our salary or reduced. The administration is not accountable either.”

Ms. Bahrami, who retired in 1379, says: “Everyone agrees that with current inflation, our living conditions are close to poverty. Education is the poorest ministry and its budget is less than all other ministries. We have protested so much that we no longer have the energy and nerves to pursue this. Stress is not pleasant at our age and we get sick, and the amount of money we receive for retirement has to be spent on doctors.”

The Minister of Education, however, in response to retirees’ requests, said “he is not the decision maker regarding retired teachers’ salaries.” But he promises that educators’ living conditions will improve.

Ms. Aleh Bahrami, a retired literature and social sciences teacher, however, is not optimistic about Minister Fani’s statements regarding “prioritizing teachers’ livelihood and promising to improve educators’ living conditions” and says that officials have made many promises before, but when it comes time to act, they back down.

Source: DW