Ambiguity Surrounding the Ranking of 200,000 Teachers; Budget Organization: No Work Left Undone

While the status of the ranking files for over 200,000 teachers remains unclear in recent weeks, the head of the Budget Organization stated that the ranking of teachers has been finalized and "no work is left undone." Davood Manzoor said on Thursday, June 7, that despite protests from teachers' unions regarding the implementation of the ranking law and the uncertainty surrounding many teachers' files, "the ranking of teachers has been finalized and the payments related to the ranking of teachers were also made last year." He added that the amount paid was over 48 trillion tomans and that there are no remaining issues in this regard. According to the statements of the Vice President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, part of the Ministry of Education's debts to teachers, especially for correcting last year's papers and extracurricular classes during the COVID-19 period, was settled with about 500 billion tomans. The resolution of teachers' files by the officials of the Islamic Republic and the statistics provided by them come at a time when there is no consistency between the statements of responsible officials and the figures published in domestic media. Additionally, see: Contradictory statements from education officials regarding the ranking of teachers. Mohsen Zarei, the Deputy Minister of Education and Head of the Evaluation and Quality Assurance Center of the Education System, stated on Friday, June 2, that activity reports have been issued for 600,000 teachers under the implementation of the ranking law. This comes as the state news agency IRNA reported on May 9 that 806,000 teachers are subject to ranking. Reza Morad Sahraei, the Minister of Education, also stated on the same day, while overseeing the ministry, that "45,000 teachers have not yet been ranked and working groups have been formed to address grievances in regions and provinces, and the process of addressing them has begun." The implementation of the ranking of educators is one of the unresolved issues of recent years, which has led to widespread protests among them. In this regard, Mohammad Reza Niknejad, a member of the Iranian Teachers' Trade Association, stated on April 6 that 60 to 70 percent of teachers in the country received incorrect rankings. The newspaper Etelaat also reported last week that according to official statistics, at least 250 teachers have been deprived of ranking by order of the Ministry of Interior, while unofficial statistics suggest that the number of teachers deprived of ranking due to participation in trade protests is even higher. So far, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Interior have not responded to this report. Mohammad Khaksari: Many teachers have moved beyond the ranking issue and are raising other demands. Interview with Mohammad Hassan Poore, a teacher and union activist about the ranking law for teachers in Iran. The deprivation of a large number of teachers from the "ranking law" by order of the Ministry of Interior. The parliament identified "those responsible for the delay in paying teachers' salaries": two organizations and one ministry. The Minister of Education is on the verge of dismissal; the minister was "in Karbala" for a while. Nationwide teacher protests were held in over 100 cities in Iran; several teachers were arrested in Karaj.