Protest rallies of teachers and educators were held in dozens of Iranian cities

Dozens of Iranian cities were the scene of protests by teachers and educators on Thursday, January 2. According to union activists, teachers in various Iranian cities were summoned to security agencies and asked to cancel today's rally.

Continuing their recent protests against the ranking plan approved by the Iranian parliament, teachers and educators gathered in front of education departments in various cities on Thursday, January 2. According to the Telegram channel of the Coordination Council of Educators’ Trade Unions, today’s gatherings were held “in 102 cities” across Iran.

According to images posted on social media, the rally was held in Baharestan Square in Tehran. In some of these images, police officers are seen trying to disperse male teachers by beating them, but a group of female educators and teachers are sitting on the ground in front of the police officers.

Mohammad Hassan Pouri, a teacher and union activist who participated in the Tehran rally, told DW Persian: "The presence of police and riot police at the Tehran rally was impressive. As the number of protesters increased, the number of security forces also increased. They tried to disperse the protesters. Tensions arose, but they were not successful due to the intervention of female colleagues."

According to Mr. Puri, the teachers' protests took place while security forces in Tehran and Shiraz had been widely summoning union activists in recent days and had asked them to cancel today's nationwide protests.

In Shiraz, despite the presence of security forces around the General Directorate of Education building, a large-scale teachers' rally was held. The "Iranian Teachers' Union Channel" reported on Telegram that security forces clashed with protesting teachers.

Mohammad Hassan Puri continues: "Teachers have emphasized the continuation of their demands in nationwide rallies, and the demand for the release of imprisoned teachers is a demand of all of us."

On Wednesday, December 14, the Islamic Consultative Assembly approved the teacher ranking plan after a 14-year delay. According to this plan, the minimum salary for teachers is set at 8 million and 80 thousand tomans and the maximum is about 16 million tomans.

This plan was finally approved after months of nationwide protests by teachers, as well as the arrest and imprisonment of union activists in this group, with a deadline set by the teachers' union centers. However, the teachers' union centers announced that the plan approved by the parliament was only a "compromise" and that the teachers would continue their protests.

Masoud Kordpour, a teacher union activist from the city of Sanandaj, told Deutsche Welle Farsi: "The teachers' demands are the full implementation of the teacher ranking law, which has been stalled in parliament for years. The full implementation of this law will provide equalization and improve the paid situation of teachers and educators."

The Coordination Council of Iranian Teachers' Unions announced in a statement on Tuesday, December 13, setting a deadline for the parliament, stating that if the parliament does not approve the "real ranking and equalization" plan within five days and the detained teachers are not released, the country's teachers will continue their protests.

What is the teacher rating scheme?

The teacher ranking plan is an old one. It was first presented to the Islamic Consultative Assembly more than six years ago. At that time, the Assembly considered two phases for implementing the plan. Although the first phase was approved, officials claim that it was not implemented because it was not foreseen in the annual budget.

Since then, the approval and implementation of this plan has been in a state of stagnation. Faraj Komijani, Secretary General of the Iranian Educationalists' Association, has said that the Hassan Rouhani administration postponed reviewing this plan until the new parliament and government took over.

Ali Karimi Firouzjaei, the representative of Babol, announced on Wednesday, October 11, that the review of this plan had been postponed. Now, the discussion is on Sunday, October 15. In response to the postponement of the review of this plan again, teachers in different parts of Iran protested.

The ranking plan effectively allows for an increase in teachers' salaries. According to this plan, teachers' salaries in Iran are determined based on 80 percent of the salaries of university faculty.

Source: DW