Teachers' Protest in Tehran and Several Other Cities in Iran

On Thursday, October 5, teachers held a simultaneous protest in Tehran and several other cities across Iran, demanding attention to their grievances, including "fair budget allocation" for education and "the right to independent organization." Participants in this protest stated in a resolution that the government of Hassan Rouhani has created "serious obstacles to the independent organization of teachers" contrary to its claims, and that teachers are threatened, summoned, and detained by security agencies for "professional and educational activities." According to ILNA news agency, this protest was organized by the Coordination Council of Teachers' Associations across Iran in commemoration of October 5, World Teachers' Day, with over 500 participants in Tehran. Teachers from Tehran and Alborz provinces gathered in front of the Organization for Planning and Budget, while teachers from other provinces protested in front of education departments. Similar protests were reported in cities including Marivan, Kermanshah, Arak, Shahrekord, Isfahan, Shiraz, Tabriz, Ahvaz, Rasht, Aligudarz, Qazvin, Sanandaj, Hamadan, Mashhad, Torbat Heydarieh, Saqqez, Khorramabad, Bushehr, Ardabil, Yazd, and Kazeroon. Mohammad Habibi, a board member of the Teachers' Association of Tehran, highlighted the need for a "fair budget" for education, which he defined as "the necessary budget to provide free and quality education for all Iranian students and a fair salary for active and retired educators." He also mentioned the need for optimal conditions for substitute and freelance teachers. The final resolution read at the protest stated that the 2018 budget directive, which included a five percent increase in government employee salaries, indicates that "more difficult days and conditions are ahead for teachers and students" in the coming year. The union also called for a "fair budget for increasing per-student funding to ensure free, quality, and equitable education for all children, especially those in deprived areas, dropouts, and migrants." Other demands included teaching the mother tongue in bilingual areas based on Article 15 of the Constitution and the presence of social workers and health instructors to reduce social harms, including violence in schools. Participants also demanded a "fair budget for expanding and providing standard and safe educational spaces" and the elimination of "non-standard and makeshift schools." Additionally, they called for a "fair budget to achieve effective and comprehensive health insurance." The resolution also noted that "approximately 100 percent" of preschool education has been privatized, leaving educators in this sector without job security and insurance support. The Coordination Council of Teachers' Associations of Iran further requested a "fair budget to ensure job security and mental well-being for all teachers," stating that overcrowded classrooms lead to abnormalities and violence in schools. Many teachers working in the private sector, substitute teachers, and freelancers lack job security and mental well-being, and do not receive insurance services. This union believes that "the root of many current problems in education lies in the incorrect perspective of officials and related institutions regarding the importance of public education." The resolution criticized the privatization of education, stating that in recent years, especially after the eight-year war, governments have continuously retreated from their responsibilities in education and instead of prioritizing education, they have attempted to solve the budget deficit issue through privatization and monetization policies. These policies, according to the Coordination Council of Teachers' Associations of Iran, have led to negative impacts such as reduced educational quality and increased dropout rates. The union called for an end to the privatization and commodification of education based on Article 30 of the Constitution, which mandates that "the government is obliged to provide free educational facilities for all people until the end of secondary education and to expand higher education facilities free of charge to the extent of the country's self-sufficiency." The teachers' opposition to privatization occurs while Hassan Rouhani's government has repeatedly emphasized the continuation of this policy in various areas. Meanwhile, according to Mehr news agency, Ali Rabiei, the Minister of Cooperatives, Labor, and Social Welfare, stated on September 13 that "public schools are to be transferred to groups of teachers in the form of cooperatives," but he did not provide further details. This is not the first teachers' protest in Iran; in recent years, teachers have held several protests. For instance, hundreds of active and retired teachers gathered in front of the parliament in Tehran on March 10 of the previous year, demanding attention to their professional grievances. In 2015, several similar protests were held in various Iranian cities. Demands included "increased salaries for all teachers and administrative staff (in line with other government employees)," "allocation of necessary budget for providing and standardizing educational environments according to international standards," "converting the status of contractual, substitute, and temporary staff to official and ensuring their job security," and "ensuring job security for preschool educators and educational staff in the private sector." Teachers' unions have also repeatedly called for the "cancellation of any convictions against teachers' union activists, compensation for damages incurred to them," and "abandoning the security perspective towards union efforts." In September, union activists in several provinces of Iran requested Hassan Rouhani to form a committee to address the "violation of rights" of teachers' union activists and defend them, while several activists have been arrested and sentenced to long prison terms in recent years. Currently, Ismail Abdi, Mahmoud Beheshti Langaroudi, Mohsen Omrani, and Mokhtar Asadi are serving their prison sentences on security charges, and Rasoul Badaghi and Ali Akbar Baghaei are serving their exile in the city of Zahedan.