Return of Retired Teachers to Schools, Challenges for Educators Continue

As the new school year approaches and concerns about teacher shortages rise, the Deputy Minister of Secondary Education has announced that the management of teacher shortages will be addressed by employing retired educators on a contractual basis. Mohammad Mehdi Kazemi told the government news agency ISNA that while the teacher shortage for the new school year has been managed, there is still a lack of teachers, and a recruitment exam has been held to address this issue. Kazemi emphasized that the existing human resource shortage is being addressed through the teaching contracts of both active and retired educators. This statement comes despite the Minister of Education of the Pezeshkian government announcing earlier in September that 80,000 new teachers would enter the educational system by the end of the month. Alireza Kazemi also mentioned that the protests of educators regarding the ranking system will be addressed. Addressing the grievances of educators regarding the ranking system may only be one of the demands of educators and retired teachers, as they have held numerous protests in recent months to seek attention to their demands. One of the protest issues is the non-payment of bonuses to retired educators after a year, which led retired educators to gather in front of the Ministry of Education on August 7. The ILNA news agency also reported that bonuses, contrary to the repeated promises of the Ministry of Education, have still not been paid and have now lost at least 50% of their value. In this context, another gathering was held on June 13, where reports received by the Persian section of Voice of America indicated that dozens of retired protesters in front of the Organization of Planning and Budget were arrested. Educators and retirees have repeatedly held protests in recent years, which have either been met with indifference from officials or suppressed by security forces. According to this report, "equalization of salaries, salary increases in line with inflation rates, and free healthcare" have been the main demands of protesting retirees in the past two and a half years. The "Revolutionary" court sentenced Ismail Gerami to one year in prison for "participating in retirees' protests." Hadi Jalali, a teacher in Kerman, has been accused of "forming a group to disrupt the security of the country." As the new school year approaches, the Ministry of Education is seeking to "secure teachers." The Coordinating Council of Teachers' Trade Unions of Iran criticized the growing influence of the Basij in the education system. A report by Ham-Mihan on the "illiteracy disaster" in Iran indicated that many high school students do not know their multiplication tables.