Teachers' Protests Held in 22 Cities; Strikes by Railway Workers in Kerman and Employees of Behesht Zahra

Protests and strikes over living conditions in Iran continued with teachers gathering in 22 cities, while railway workers in Kerman went on strike and municipal workers in Imam Port and Behesht Zahra cemetery in Tehran marched. The simultaneous gatherings of teachers on Tuesday, May 9, took place in cities including Kazeroon, Shirvan, Yasuj, Tehran, Rasht, Bojnourd, Ardabil, Babol, Saqqez, Harsin, Arak, Ahvaz, Shush, Torbat Heydarieh, Hamadan, Islamabad Gharb (Shahabad), Sanandaj, Qazvin, Takestan, Kermanshah, Abdanan, and Jolfa, in front of education offices at the invitation of the Coordinating Council of Iranian Teachers' Trade Unions. According to a statement released by this council for the protests, the demonstrations on Tuesday were in response to the serial poisoning of students due to unknown chemical gas attacks on schools across Iran, with the slogan 'Students are our red line.' Teachers also demanded the fulfillment of their professional rights, including the release of imprisoned teachers and equalization of salaries. In some cities, including Sanandaj, the teachers' protests faced attacks from the Islamic Republic's security forces. In this context, Farzad Safikhanpour, a sociology teacher and a teachers' union activist, was arrested by security police during the protest. He told his family in a phone call that he would be 'referred to the prosecutor's office' on Wednesday. The Hengaw Human Rights Organization also reported the arrest of Fatih Osmani, a teacher in Sanandaj, stating that he and Mr. Safikhanpour were arrested by government forces with beatings and taken to an unknown location. Reports received by Voice of America indicate that the teachers' gathering in Tehran was held despite a very heavy security atmosphere. The Coordinating Council of Iranian Teachers' Trade Unions also described the security atmosphere in Saqqez as very heavy, noting that security forces had closed the streets leading to the education office in that city. Nevertheless, some active and retired teachers held the gathering. In another news, the council announced that Atakeh Rajabi, a teacher who has been on strike since October 24 in protest against the 'governmental murder of students,' was expelled and repeatedly threatened. She was arrested on Tuesday after leaving her home to participate in the teachers' gathering in Mashhad. The Coordinating Council of Iranian Teachers' Trade Unions strongly condemned the arrest of Ms. Rajabi and the continued violent actions against teachers, demanding her release and the unconditional release of all imprisoned activists. The council also reported that security forces stormed Atakeh Rajabi's home, disrupting the house and arresting her sister, Arezu Rajabi. Currently, several teachers and teacher union activists are detained on security charges or are serving prison sentences, such as Ismail Abdi, Rasoul Badaghi, Jafar Ebrahimi, Mohammad Habibi, Masoud Farhikhteh, and Hashem Khastar. At the end of the gatherings on May 9, the resolution of the Coordinating Council of Iranian Teachers' Trade Unions was read, stating: 'The inability of those occupying managerial positions in the educational system, under the inefficiency of the entire executive system and the opposition of the entire government to modern thought and education, has eliminated any hope for even the slightest positive change.' The council emphasized that it will continue to pursue the accumulated demands of teachers, both active and retired, and the rights of students 'by all possible and civil means as before.' In this resolution, the main livelihood demands of teachers included 'the precise implementation of the Civil Service Management Law for active and retired teachers, the precise implementation of the teacher ranking system according to the initial resolution, the return to the implementation of Article 30 of the Constitution, ensuring quality education and the safety of schools, especially for female students, and the unconditional release of all imprisoned activists.' The council further stated: 'Without a critical and deep reconsideration of the ideological and political foundations of the ruling ideology, without a critical and deep rethinking of governance methods and school management, without liberating schools and the educational system from the dominance of the ruling totalitarian ideology, without accepting individual, cultural, and social differences among students, without addressing the severe centralization existing in the educational system, and without fundamental changes in the existing and failed mechanisms of school management, the goal of the educational system will not be to educate citizens but to train soldiers aligned with the narrow-minded ideological impositions of the totalitarian regime.' The Coordinating Council of Iranian Teachers' Trade Unions emphasized that 'the institution of school requires an understanding of human beings. Understanding that students have different social and cultural backgrounds, preferences and learning styles, multiple intelligences, and various life paths and interests and needs. Ignoring these cultural and individual differences and forcibly fitting all students into homogeneous molds and structures not only destroys students' motivation and desire to learn but also leads them to actively resist the curriculum.' This national teachers' organization, referring to students' participation in protests in recent months in schools and streets, considered it a 'complete failure of a model' that 'ignores deep changes in the realm of social realities and strives to realize its unrealistic ideals in the educational system.' Inflation and rising living costs have fueled protests since the beginning of the year 1402.