New Year Message from the Coordination Council of Iranian Teachers' Trade Unions: With Unity and Solidarity, We Will Achieve Liberation and Equality

The Coordination Council of Iranian Teachers' Trade Unions, in a message on the occasion of Nowruz and the beginning of spring, stated that equality, joy, love, and self-sustained living are the rights of all Iranians. It emphasized that with the unity and solidarity of the people, all obstacles to a life filled with liberation and equality will be removed. In its message, the council noted that in the past year, as in previous years, students have been subjected to the lash of ideological and commodified education, and their motivation and desire to learn have been crushed. Dropout rates due to poverty have increased, child labor has been reproduced, and the disparity in education between urban centers and peripheries has deepened. The message continued: 'Teachers are suffering from the militarization of schools and the slaughter of human dignity, and their leaders have been sentenced to prison, dismissal, exile, or house arrest. The destructive specter of inflation and high prices, due to the economic policies of the ruling system, has cast a shadow over the entirety of people's lives, and there is no will to resolve this crisis. Advocates in various fields have been sent to prison, and freedom of thought and expression remains prohibited.' This cultural institution of Iranian teachers considered the aforementioned issues and many others as products of undemocratic governance, the hegemony of violence and repression, and the lack of accountability of extralegal individuals. It emphasized that the conscious boycott of the 'mock elections of the government parliament' this year reflects the illegitimacy of this institution and indicates the deep dissatisfaction of the people with the authoritarian governance in the Islamic Republic. Poverty is the main factor behind the increase in student dropouts in Iran. More than 200,000 students have dropped out this year. The recurring trend of 'punishing students' in the educational system of the Islamic Republic; the arrest of a school principal in Bushehr province. The Coordination Council of Iranian Teachers' Trade Unions warned about the consequences of the presence of clerics in schools.