Complaint from Six Thousand Iranian Teachers: Teachers Live Below the Poverty Line

About six thousand teachers across Iran have expressed their dissatisfaction in a petition addressed to Ali Larijani, the Speaker of Parliament, regarding what they termed political handling of their livelihood issues. According to the Iranian Labor News Agency, ILNA, the signatories of this petition called for the elimination of discrimination and the establishment of justice between teachers and other government employees. The six thousand signatories wrote to the Speaker of Parliament that 'most teachers in Iran are struggling to meet their basic life needs, live below the poverty line, have suffered damage to their dignity, and have lost their job motivation.' Part of this petition states that teachers do not see a bright future ahead and therefore demand action from the Parliament and the government. These six thousand teachers also requested that representatives of the Parliament and the government 'pay teachers a salary that meets the needs of a dignified life, free from any political slogans.' Ismail Abdi, Secretary-General of the Teachers' Trade Association, told Radio Farda: 'Teachers from all over the country participated in signing this petition. We had two goals in presenting this petition. First, to express our protest against the current conditions because education in Iran suffers from discrimination, and our second goal was to make it clear to the Parliament that if educators take other measures from now on, the Parliament should be informed. Because there is currently a lot of unrest within the education sector, and the volume and level of educators' demands have significantly increased.' According to ILNA, the signatories emphasized that any planning for the advancement and excellence of the country is contingent upon principled planning in education and a correct perspective on the issue of education and training, which will be achieved under special attention to the custodians of education, namely teachers. The Teachers' Rights and Labor website also noted that this 13-meter-long petition was delivered to the Parliament by representatives of the teachers' trade associations from the provinces of Hamadan, Kurdistan, and Tehran. Previously, more than 100 teachers and over 150 civil and trade union activists, as well as the teachers' union in Kurdistan, Iran, criticized the policies of Hassan Rouhani's government regarding the educational system in a petition. According to the Teachers' Rights and Labor website, the signatories stated that the new government has not only failed to overcome previous problems but has also added new issues to the existing problems of public education, teachers, students, and families. They also criticized the policies of Ali Asghar Fani, the Minister of Education, stating that he has not taken any action to resolve the livelihood and welfare issues of teachers, including low wages and access to social and cultural support such as supplementary insurance and health insurance. The signatories of this petition ultimately emphasized that economic instability has created problems for the job security of teachers at various levels.