Barely five weeks after the latest popular uprising in Iran was brutally suppressed by the security forces, the education workers in Iran staged an active sit-in on Monday 23^rd December 2019 to once again voice their hitherto unmet demands.  These include the proper implementation of the country’s civic service management statute; enforcement of the verdict of the supreme audit court of Iran regarding the paying of public sector employees; wage rises proportional to the rate of inflation; and, the improvement of the existing health insurance to one which is more effective without the introduction of unnecessary supplemental insurance plans.

On Monday morning, in response to a call by the Coordination Council of the Trade Organisations of the Education Workers of Iran, the teachers and other education workers in several provinces of the country stopped their work and staged a sit-in in school offices.

The education workers are fighting for their livelihoods and the insufficient budget allocated to education in the upcoming budget submitted by the Rouhani government to parliament for ratification.

The sit-in protest was planned to be carried out at the same time that the coincide with the gathering of pensioners in front of the Majlis (Iran’s parliament) in Tehran, as well as other provincial capitals, voicing their own demands for pension payments and other services.  The pensioners vowed to continue their protest until their demands are met and their rights are secured.

In addition to protesting their unfulfilled demands, teachers demanded the release of the detained teacher trade union leaders.  CODIR has been campaigning for the release of Ismail Abdi, leader of the Iranian Teachers’ Trade Association (ITTA), and Mohammad Habibi and Mahmoud Beheshti, both leading ITTA members.

Reports from Iran indicate sit-ins have taken place in several cities including Mashhad, Bushehr, Marivan, Sanandaj, Saghez and Bojnourd as well as a gathering of teachers in front of the parliament in Tehran.

The sit-in of the teachers in schools was planned to last only for one hour so as not to disrupt the teaching of pupils and instead draw the attention of the authorities and onlookers to the acute and worsening problems faced by Iran’s education workers.

Monday 23^rd December 2019