Iran's Minister of Education to be Interrogated in Two Weeks

The presiding board of the Islamic Consultative Assembly announced on Tuesday, June 9, the receipt of the impeachment proposal against Ali Asghar Fani, Iran's Minister of Education. According to the House of Nation news agency, affiliated with the Iranian parliament, 64 representatives have signed the impeachment proposal, and Mohammad Dehghan, a member of the presiding board, has read its generalities in the open session of the parliament. However, the exact date for the impeachment of the Minister of Education is still unclear. The IRNA news agency quoted Mohammad Reza Bahonar, the second deputy speaker of the parliament, stating that the impeachment proposal will be on the agenda for next Wednesday, and the minister will defend his performance in the open session. However, Mohammad Dehghan stated in an interview with the Fars news agency that the Minister of Education has ten days to appear in the parliament after the impeachment proposal is presented, meaning that the impeachment session will not take place next week but the week after. The impeachment proposal against the Minister of Education includes ten general reasons, one of which is the issue of providing for the livelihoods of Iran's educational community. The signatory representatives believe that Ali Asghar Fani has been 'unable' to attract the government's attention to ensure the livelihoods of active and retired educators. In recent months, numerous reports have emerged about gatherings of teachers in Iran protesting their living conditions and education salaries, which have not been limited to one region but have included cities and provinces across the country. Meanwhile, the Minister of Education has promised to work on resolving teachers' livelihood issues, but the signatories of the impeachment proposal believe that Mr. Fani has failed to gain the 'satisfaction and trust' of the educational community. If the impeachment session is held, Ali Asghar Fani will be the second member of Hassan Rouhani's cabinet to be impeached, following Reza Faraji Dana, the Minister of Culture and Higher Education, who could not regain the parliament's vote of confidence. Ali Asghar Fani took on the role of Minister of Education after Hassan Rouhani's first choice for the position, Mohammad Ali Najafi, failed to gain the parliament's vote of confidence. The impeachment proposal against Mr. Fani had been raised before but was left unaddressed. Other reasons cited by the signatory representatives for the impeachment include 'lack of serious and effective action to develop and present a roadmap and operational planning for the implementation of the fundamental transformation document of education' and 'lack of a serious and programmatic approach to the Teacher Training University.' In this context, thousands of teachers across Iran have held protest gatherings, the Secretary-General of the Iranian Teachers' Organization has been arrested, and a girl student in Kahrizak was expelled from school due to a 'kidney transplant.' The President of Iran stated that he has no plans to restructure the cabinet.