Teachers Excluded from Ranking Scheme Write to Ebrahim Raisi, Criticizing Security Approach to Labor Activists

In continuation of protests by a number of educators against their exclusion from the ranking scheme, dozens of teachers wrote a letter to Ebrahim Raisi demanding the removal of this deprivation. In this open letter published on Wednesday, August 16, signed by 67 teachers excluded from the benefits of the ranking scheme, they called on the President of the 13th government to take action to resolve this issue. The signatories attributed their exclusion to 'pressures outside of education' and described it as a tool for discrimination against themselves. Previously, Reza Morad Sahraei, the Minister of Education, had reported on the Interior Ministry's order to exclude a large number of teachers from the ranking. The newspaper Etemad also reported in June of this year that the Interior Ministry, in a directive last year, had proposed 'removal from ranking' and 'downgrading' as some of the strategies to counter teachers' labor protests. The excluded teachers in their open letter also criticized the 'deliberate or negligent indifference of the government towards educators' and expressed regret over the 'security perspective' of the government towards teachers' labor activities. The signatories referred to the inadequacies of this scheme, such as 'subjective criteria, arbitrary decisions' and the exclusion of 'some retirees.' This letter, written in July of this year, was published on Wednesday, August 16, in the newspaper Etemad. Previously, Etemad had mentioned that at least 250 teachers had been excluded from the ranking scheme nationwide. The Coordinating Council of Teachers' Trade Unions of Iran had previously criticized the government's treatment of labor activists, emphasizing that the government had turned this scheme into a tool for controlling teachers. In recent years, teachers' labor activists have consistently faced punitive actions, reprimands, summons, and arrests by government institutions. Mohammad Khaksari stated: Many teachers have moved beyond the ranking scheme discussions and are raising other demands. The contradictory statements of education officials regarding the ranking of teachers. The exclusion of a large number of teachers from the 'ranking law' at the order of the Interior Ministry. Holding a nationwide teachers' gathering in over 100 cities in Iran; several teachers arrested in Karaj.