Reporting by PMOI/MEK
Iran, October 15, 2021—Forty-five cities in 25 provinces across Iran were witness to large rallies by teachers on Thursday, who gathered once again to protest difficult living conditions, low wages, and other grievances that have gone mostly unanswered by the regime.
The teachers, who have regularly held protest rallies in the past months, vowed to continue their rallies until they obtain their demands, including the release of teachers who have been arrested and imprisoned for standing up for their rights.
In Tehran, a large placard held by the protesters read: “Teachers are awake and hates discrimination.” Among the slogans used in the gatherings in different cities across Iran were, “No surrender, no compromise, our ranking must be realized,” “Imprisoned teachers must be released,” “We will not relent until we obtain our rights,” “Teachers, demand your rights,” “Astronomical salaries [for regime officials], misery for the public,” “Social justice equals, implementing the Ranking Act,” and “Implementing the Ranking Act without cheating.”
October 14 – Tehran, #Iran
Teachers and educators rallying in the Iranian capital and chanting:
"Teachers, shout for your rights!"#IranProtests #اعتراضات_سراسری pic.twitter.com/IyMl1TXi8P— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) October 14, 2021
Protests were reported in at least 45 cities, including Tehran, Isfahan, Tabriz, Shiraz, Kermanshah, Arak, Ahvaz, Zanjan, Hamedan, Mashhad, and Yazd.
In Tehran, the teachers rallied in front of the Planning and Budget Organization. In other cities, the demonstrations were held in front of the local offices of the Ministry of Education offices in other cities.
The regime’s security measures, including the dispatching of plainclothes agents to photograph and threaten the protesters, did not prevent the teachers from congregating. In Ahvaz, state security forces attacked the demonstrators gathered in front of the regime’s radio and television building and dispersed them. In Kerman, the SSF arrested some of the teachers to prevent the gathering, but teachers carried out their protest, neutralizing the regime’s plans.
October 14 – Shiraz, south-central #Iran
Teachers and educators rallying and demanding answers to their long raised issues.#IranProtests #اعتراضات_سراسری pic.twitter.com/bxrxmZ5Cgq— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) October 14, 2021
Ms. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), hailed the protesting teachers and called on the youth and students to support their legitimate demands, especially the release of imprisoned teachers. The teachers’ nationwide protests and solidarity in more than 40 cities against the mullahs’ inhuman policies, for restoring the teachers’ trampled rights and the right to free education for Iran’s children show the Iranian people’s resolve to liberate Iran from religious tyranny, Mrs. Rajavi said. The only way to achieve the rights of all sectors of Iranian society, teachers, pensioners, workers, nurses, and the medical staff, suffering from the regime’s oppression and corruption, is the overthrow of Khamenei and henchmen like Ebrahim Raisi by the Resistance Units and through an uprising, she added.
The teachers’ nationwide protests & solidarity in 40-plus cities against the mullahs’ inhuman policies, for restoring the teachers’ trampled rights & the right to free education for Iran’s children show the Iranian people’s resolve to liberate #Iran from religious tyranny. pic.twitter.com/1IsFHDDMei
— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) October 14, 2021
The teachers have been protesting since last year, but the regime has refrained from addressing their demands. As the start of the academic year neared, the teachers returned to the streets to resume their protests and remind the government of its duties.
This latest round of protests has been ongoing since early September.
The protesting teachers are demanding regime authorities implement what is known as the "80 percent ranking plan” regarding the teachers’ salaries.
"The government and parliament are obliged to approve this initiative. If this initiative is approved and implemented, the legal basis for teachers’ wage will be at least 80 percent of that of faculty members, because teachers and members of faculty boards should be receiving equal salaries," the Iranian Teachers Coordination Council said in its statement marking the beginning of the new school year.
October 14 – Kermanshah, western #Iran
Teachers and educators rallying and demanding answers to their long raised issues.#IranProtests #اعتراضات_سراسری pic.twitter.com/hWHpxy8gqA— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) October 14, 2021
The Iranian regime is literally stealing from the country’s teachers by maintaining their salaries at a low level. The poverty line in Iran is 120 million rials (about $437 per month). Yet many teachers receive a fraction of this sum.
The teachers’ minimum wage in Iran is 35 million rials, which means that they are paid about 1,300 euros a year. In Ireland, the minimum annual salary of a teacher is 30,000 euros, more than 23 times their Iranian colleagues. All the while, Irish teachers are among the lowest paid in Europe.
In Luxembourg, a teacher earns at least 95,000 euros. That means more than 73 times the salary of a teacher in Iran! To add insult to injury, Iranian teachers receive their salary with a delay. Some informal teachers are only receiving half their salaries. The authorities’ answer to the teachers’ protests is negligence and then oppression.
Many teachers have committed suicide in recent years due to poverty and not being able to provide for their basic needs.
Despite the shortage of teachers across Iran, the education ministry refrains from employing the teachers.
October 14 – Arak, central #Iran
Teachers and educators rallying and demanding answers to their long raised issues.#IranProtests #اعتراضات_سراسری pic.twitter.com/8TK1QW800N— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) October 14, 2021
