A report on the nationwide gathering of employed and retired teachers in more than 50 cities
16-October-2021
Category: Labor and guilds
15-October-2021
Newsgroup: Teachers –
Breathing in Confinement: On Thursday, October 14, 2021, in response to the call of the Iranian Teachers’ Trade Association, and demanding equalization of salaries, employed and retired teachers, held a nationwide rally.
Teachers in at least 22 provinces and more than 50 cities staged protest rallies in front of the Provincial Education Directorate. In Tehran and Alborz provinces, teachers gathered in front of the Program and Budget Organization.
According to Breathing in Confinement, the news organ of the Prisoners’ Rights League in Iran, on Thursday, October 14, 2021, in protest to the failure of officials to fulfill their promises, the employed and retired teachers held protest rallies in more than 50 cities. Teachers gathered in response to the call of the Iranian Teachers’ Trade Association in Fereydunkenar, Jolfa, Tehran, Tabriz, Khorramabad, Aligoodarz, Darab, Sari, Rasht, Ardabil, Marivan, Saqqez, Ahvaz, Qazvin, Zanjan, Andimeshk, Shiraz, Kermanshah, Bojnourd, Isfahan, , Ilam, , Yasuj , Sanandaj, Bandar Abbas, Izeh, Behbahan, Mashhad, Shirvan, Selseleh, Mamasani, Pole- Dokhtar, , Bushehr, Malayer, Kerman, Bandar Anzali, Arak, Shahre- Kord, Hamedan, Jahrom and Qom.
They chanted: ” Teachers should not be in prison”, “The imprisoned teachers should be released”, “Teachers are awake and hate discrimination”, “Neither compromise nor surrender, we demand equal pay”, “Extensive embezzlements have caused public misery” …
A heavy presence of security forces to prevent the formation of rallies has been reported in Mashhad and Tehran. On some occasions, the security agents checked the cellphones of the teachers to ensure that they were not filming the rallies.
The teachers in Ahwaz gathered in front of the city’s radio and television building to protest the television performance on not covering the protest rallies. After the intervention of the police, however, the teachers were forced to move toward the Education Office.
In their final statement, the teachers revealed the purpose of their gathering as follows:
“The salary and benefits of teachers should be equal to at least 80% of that of University Faculty Members.
We strongly oppose increasing the working hours from 24 to 30 hours/week.
We are gathered here to defend the rights of pensioners. We call for the full implementation of the Civil Service Management Law. We emphasize that the equalization of the salaries of pensioners must be fully implemented, and the government’s debt must be paid to them. We emphasize the legal rights of retirees who unfortunately, given the rising inflation and the decline in the value of national currency, have not yet received their 2020 retirement bonus.
In addition, emphasizing on free, fair, and high-quality education, we demand the rights of students. As per the standards, no more than 16 students should sit in a classroom. Providing the students with Covid-19 vaccines approved by the World Health Organization, as well as enough supply of face masks and hand sanitizers in schools are among the basic rights of students. According to the officials, because of no access to the facilities and appliances such as tablets, smartphones, and the Internet, at least 3 million children have been deprived of online education. We want these to be provided free of charge to everyone, including students in deprived and poor areas.
The government has to provide online education facilities for all teachers.”