Iran Focus
London,7 October – Current faculty and retired personnel from the Iranian Ministry of Education came together to protest low salaries and horrific living conditions, on International Teachers Day.
The demonstration, which took place on Wednesday, October 5, was prevented from making its way up to the Regime’s Parliament because plainclothes agents from the Ministry of Intelligence stopped protesters from leaving their meeting place of Sepah Square.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps threatened the protesters in the lead up to the demonstration to encourage them not to take part. They also disrupted internet service around the country in order to disrupt communication and weaken the protest.
They could not stop the protesters’ spirit, however, a large number of protesters made it to the Parliament holding signs that read: “Earning a decent living is our inalienable right.”
In Shiraz, hundreds of retired teachers and teaching assistants gathered outside Department of Education’s building.
Meanwhile, in Mashhad, protesters held up placards which read: “Motto of the International Teachers Day: Respect the status of teachers, and improve their dignity and status.”
In Gilan, teachers and faculty released a statement demanding an end to discrimination in pay and benefits, the removal of security, political and social pressures on educators, and the provision of health insurance.
Retired educators in Iran are not given the respect they deserve, deprived of the most basic rights and forced into terrible living conditions.
The National Council of Resistance of Iran released a statement in solidarity with the teachers.
It read: “The Iranian Resistance hails all the freedom-loving teachers and education faculty of Iran and calls on the nation, particularly on women and youths, to rise in solidarity with the teachers’ protest movement.”
