According to a prior announcement, thousands of teachers on Saturday refused to participate in classrooms and took to the streets in 45 cities across 21 provinces on the first day of the new educational year. In Iran, the educational year begins on September 23 every year. However, this year it began on Saturday, September 25.

Teachers Rally in 45 cities across Iran; September 25, 2021

Teachers blamed officials for failing to implement the ranking plan, which sets their salaries according to their experiences and professions. Officials have refused to implement the plan despite the Parliament (Majlis) previously passing it to reduce social protests in this context.

“The protests took place in the provinces of Tehran, Fars, Kermanshah, East Azerbaijan, Mazandaran, Isfahan, Zanjan, Khuzestan, Lorestan, Ilam, Khorasan Razavi, North Khorasan, Kurdistan, South Khorasan, Yazd, Gilan, Kerman, Ardabil, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, Bushehr, and Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad,” the Iranian opposition coalition National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) stated.

In Iran, teachers suffer from enormous dilemmas. In addition to financial difficulties, which push them to work overtime and take several lateral careers such as taxi drivers, they face psychological sufferings that frustrate them severely.

Furthermore, not only have authorities failed to address these selfless people’s demands, but also, they systematically silence them. For instance, the State Security Forces (SSF) disperse teachers’ peaceful protests and arrest activists, who dare to raise their voice and criticize autocrats bravely.

“Imprisoned teachers must be freed,” “Teacher; raise your voice and shout your right,” “Teachers will die but never give in to disgrace,” “Teachers are awake and hate discrimination,” and “We no longer accept officials’ deceitful promises,” teachers chanted outside local and provincial education departments in various cities.

“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,” the Iranian opposition People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) reported.

“This latest round of protests comes on the heels of ongoing protests that began on September 3 and have been ongoing nearly every day. Some of the teachers spend the night in front of the education ministry and resume their demonstrations during the day,” the report added.

Iran’s new president Ebrahim Raisi, who is notorious as the butcher of Tehran due to his criminal record, had given enormous promises about improving people’s livelihood. However, he has yet to fulfill any of his promises, and the people’s financial condition is still deteriorating.

The new government’s failure to resolve people’s economic problems and refine their livelihood shows that there is no different between “moderates” and “conservatives.” In other words, corruption has profoundly swept the Islamic Republic regime, and a real resolution takes fundamental social-political changes.

NCRI President-elect Maryam Rajavi hailed freedom-seeking teachers in Tehran and 20 provinces and described them as people “who demonstrated their resolve to obtain their rights plundered by the ruling religious dictatorship.”

“Perseverance, uprising, and overthrowing the mullahs’ regime is the only way to restore the rights of teachers, workers, and other sectors, whose rights the mullahs have been violating for many years and have brought them nothing but suppression, discrimination, poverty, inflation, and unemployment,” Mrs. Rajavi emphasized.