February 18, 2022
Iran’s teachers appear more offended than satisfied by the pay raise they were recently voted by the Majlis. Despite the raise, pensioned teachers and active teachers are still protesting all over the country.
They are marching in protests that take place almost every day somewhere in the country, in cities big and small.
Reports say some of the protesters are periodically detained.
The teachers are criticizing what they now refer to as the government’s “indifference to education,” characterizing the new pay raise as an insulting and paltry effort to buy their silence.
They are also calling for the release of their detained colleagues, who grow in number with each day’s new demonstrations.
The protesters demand that the government move more quickly on a planned pay grade system for teachers based on experience and performance. They also want pensions to be aligned with the salaries of working teachers as soon as possible.
The protesters chanted slogans such as: “If embezzlement is reduced, our problems will be solved;” “We only heard promises, we didn’t see justice;” and “Incompetent parliament, shame on you!”
In the middle of the protests, Mohammad Taghi Fallahi, secretary general of the Iranian Teachers Trade Association, was hauled off to Evin Prison to serve a six-month sentence for “membership in an illegal organization.”
In December, the Majlis raised teachers’ salaries after several days of countrywide protests. The new law will guarantee teachers will earn about 80 percent of the salaries of university faculty members, one of the protesters’ demands.
Education Minister Yousef Nouri promised that the law, which had been repeatedly introduced in the Majlis in recent years but failed to pass, would be swiftly implemented after its approval.