The Start of the Second Round of Teacher Strikes in Several Cities in Iran

Several labor organizations in Iran announced on their social media pages the start of the second round of strikes and sit-ins by teachers in some cities on Tuesday, November 22. According to the report, the sit-ins took place in several schools in the cities of Sanandaj, Baneh, Saqqez, Marivan, Kermanshah, Isfahan, Shiraz, Babol, Karaj, Alborz, Jolfa, Khomeini Shahr, Iwan-e Gharb, Ardabil, Yazd, Jam in Bushehr province, Hamadan, Lamerd, Kazeroon, Divandareh, Qazvin, Tabriz, Sari, and also in areas of Tehran province. The first round of teacher strikes and sit-ins in Iran was held last month. The Coordinating Council of Teacher Trade Unions of Iran had called for the sit-ins in school offices on November 22 and 23 in a statement a few days ago. The council stated that the aim of the sit-in was to compel "the rulers to fulfill their constitutional duties towards students and to provide free, quality, and equitable education, as well as to ensure the livelihood and respect for the dignity of teachers." Regarding the issue of free education, the Coordinating Council of Teacher Trade Unions across Iran and other teacher unions, as well as teacher activists, have repeatedly called for the cessation of privatization and commodification of education, referring to Article 30 of the Constitution. Article 30 states: "The government is obliged to provide free educational facilities for all citizens until the end of secondary education and to expand higher education facilities free of charge to the extent of the country's self-sufficiency." However, according to activists and teacher unions, this article has been forgotten by the government. In this regard, the Coordinating Council's statement from October 5, 2017, noted that "negative impacts such as reduced educational quality and increased numbers of out-of-school children have followed." The Telegram channel of the Coordinating Council of Iranian Teachers wrote: "Why has the education budget, which accounted for 30% of the budget at the beginning of the revolution, now fallen below 10%, while enrollment has nearly doubled?" The council also raised the question, "Shouldn't the President be held accountable for failing to adhere to constitutional principles?" In their recent statement, the Coordinating Council of Teacher Unions of Iran also demanded "fair budget provision and guarantee for the implementation of the Country Service Management Law and the elimination of discrimination against active and retired teachers, free education, implementation of the second phase of ranking, cessation of the full-time teacher plan, an end to the process of case-making and repression of teachers, and the release of imprisoned teachers." The statement also criticized security institutions and educational guards for continuing the case-making and repression of activists while accusing them of moral and psychological offenses. Currently, several teacher activists such as Ismail Abdi, Mahmoud Beheshti Langroudi, Mohammad Habibi, Rouhollah Mardani, and Abdolreza Ghanbari are imprisoned on security charges. Additionally, Abbas Vahidiyan was arrested in October, with the charges and reasons for his detention not disclosed. In this context, teacher unions have repeatedly called for "the cancellation of any convictions against teacher activists, compensation for damages incurred to them, and the abandonment of a security perspective on union efforts." The Coordinating Council of Teacher Unions of Iran, in part of its statement, pointed out that officials from the three branches of government "lack the will and desire" to solve the problems of Iran's crisis-ridden education system, criticizing the full-time teacher plan as "anti-educational and anti-teacher." This teachers' union noted that under this plan, teachers are expected to be exploited more than ever with "low wages and salaries." Teacher unions have been demanding improvements in the living conditions of teachers and retired educators and attention to the quality of education through protests and strikes for years. Reports indicate that some of these labor protests have faced security and judicial crackdowns from the Islamic Republic of Iran, which have drawn criticism from human rights organizations and labor unions.