Iran: Teachers Hold Protests in more than 60 Cities

 Written by Mansoureh Galestan

Teachers in 60 cities across held rallies on Thursday, protesting a Majlis bill that fails to address the basic demands they have been making for months.

Both active and retired teachers are taking part in the protests, which are taking place in Tehran, Mashhad, Tabriz, Isfahan, Rasht, Sanandaj, Ahvaz, Arak, Karaj, Kermanshah, and many other cities.

In some cities, thousands of teachers have joined the protest rallies. In Mashhad, Tehran, and Shiraz, there is a heavy presence of security forces. In Shiraz, anti-riot forces attacked the teachers’ rally, but the teachers resisted and prevented the repressive forces from dispersing them.

The teachers are demanding job security, wages adjusted based on inflation and currency depreciation rates, education reform, and removal of discriminatory laws.

A recently passed bill by the Majlis has only approved a fraction of the budget needed to address the teachers’ needs. And the Majlis speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, has stipulated that there will be no change to the bill’s content.

The teachers, who have held several rounds of nationwide protests, are now back in the streets to reclaim their undeniable rights.

The protesters are also demanding the release of several teachers arrested and imprisoned in recent months for organizing and attending protest rallies.

On Thursday, the teachers were chanting, “Imprisoned teachers must be released,” “Political prisoners must be freed,” “Teachers will die but won’t give in to disgrace,” “Students deserve free education,” “Teachers, rise and fight discrimination,” “We’ve heard too many promises and no justice,” and “Shame on the state-run broadcasting organization.”

 

This article was first published by ncr-iran