Massive teacher strikes rock Iranian dictatorship

Peter Murphy, Australian Supporters of Democracy in Iran

On Saturday 19 February 2022, the first day of the working week in Iran, thousands of Iranian teachers staged their eighth round of nationwide protests since October 2021, in more than 100 cities and towns. Their rallies and protests continued for the rest of the week. In January this year the Australian Education Union published a solidarity message for the striking teachers on its website.

The teachers told the Government that the strike movement will expand unless the new classification system for wages is changed, pensions are increased for inflation, the state plunder of the Teacher’s Reserve Fund stops, imprisoned teachers are released and charges dropped, and expulsion of teacher activists stops.

Security forces blocked the roads to the protest venues in many cities, trying to prevent people and students from rallying, arrested many and confiscated their phones, including in Tehran and Karaj. At least 15 teachers were beaten and arrested in Karaj. In Rasht, protesters were taken inside the Education Department.

Some of the teachers’ slogans are 'Raisi (the current President), Qalibaf (Speaker of Parliament), this is the final message, teachers’ movement is ready for an uprising,' 'Political prisoner must be freed,' 'Imprisoned teachers must be freed,' 'From Tehran to Khorasan, teachers are jailed,' 'Teachers will die but will not accept humiliation,' 'Teachers are vigilant, they hate discrimination', 'The courageous teachers will never submit to humiliation.'

Teachers in Iran are calling on the international community and teacher unions and federations around the world to stand with them in their fight for justice and equality.

The dire situation of the Iranian school system

In Iran, all children aged six to 12 have compulsory primary school, and attend high school from ages 12 to 18. In 2019, there were 15 million school students.

The profound poverty in Iran is nowhere more evident than in the country’s education system. Teachers, parents and students are worn down with 80 per cent of the people living under the poverty line. Iran is failing to provide free and mandatory education, and there is no guarantee that young people can continue their education.

Presently, one in four students drops out of school. According to official data, 53 per cent of the dropouts are because of economic and financial problems as well as a shortage of educational spaces.

The Government has also been gradually expanding its demands for tuition fees from students and their families, further contributing to school dropouts. More and more universities have also been demanding tuitions fees from students.

According to experts, many of the estimated seven million children deprived of education end up in child labor. Based on unofficial estimates, there are between two and 7 million child workers in Iran who are not only deprived of a normal childhood experience but also exposed to violence and other types of abuse.

The head of the Association of Skills Training Schools announced that 37 per cent of Iranian students drop out of school before getting their diploma, and that only 7 per cent of high school graduates are admitted to universities.

An adviser to the Minister of Cooperatives, Labor and Social Welfare, has acknowledged that 'more than nine per cent of Iranian families have to sell their furniture and home appliances due to the fact that they cannot pay for education with their normal income.'

Most teachers live under the poverty line

The minimum monthly expenses for a family of four in April 2019 was 8 million tomans (A$970).

The amount they had to spend for their food and only for 18 essential goods at the average price in the cities, was 2.2 million tomans (A$268) in April 2019, while the minimum wage is 1.5 million tomans (A$184).

Meanwhile, a teacher’s average monthly salary is 3.25 million tomans (A$392) and a retired teacher receives 1.5 million tomans (A$181). But most teachers have temporary contracts which brings down their wages to under one million tomans (A$120).

According to Mohammad Bathaei, a former Education Minister, 'Teachers have always had to have a second job to earn their living. Without any exaggerations if a teacher wants to earn his/her living just by teaching, they cannot have an average life.'

Repression of education in Iran

Institutionalised and incessant suppression of criticism and protest in universities and schools has devastated the education system. The regime answers every protest with imprisonment and torture.

A former official of the Education Ministry has admitted that there are clubs in the basement of the Ministry ready for dealing with teachers who stage protest gatherings in front of the ministry’s building. The teachers are taken to the basement and beaten up using those clubs.

The protests and bold expressions of opposition by teachers and spokespersons of the Teachers’ Trade Unions were also answered with long term prison sentences. ◆

Peter Murphy is Co-Secretary of Australian Supporters of Democracy in Iran, founded in 2004, and a member of the Media Entertainment & Arts Alliance

Find out more at www.ncr-iran.org/en