On Thursday, May 10, 2018, following a previous call by teachers and academics for a scheduled national protest gathering in Iran, protests by teachers, academics, and educators took place in various cities such as Tehran, Mashhad, Isfahan, Sari, Kermanshah, Marivan, Kazerun, Mamassani, Saghez, Mazandaran and more where employed and retired academics and teachers demanded their rights. Many of these protests turned to anti-government demonstrations as law enforcement offices and security guards attempted to attack and suppress the gatherings, but were confronted by the teachers and the Iranian public.
In Tehran – According to a previous call by the Council for the Coordination of Teachers Organizations, dozens of teachers gathered in front of the Islamic Consultative Assembly (Iran parliament) in Tehran. The protest rally that began at 10 am local time, is still ongoing and the crowd is increasing. In the hands of the protesters, these manuscripts can be seen:
– Bread; labor; freedom; liberation in education
– We want a fair budget for education
In Isfahan – A group of academics and teachers of Isfahan gathered in front of the city’s education department. These teachers took to the streets after a nationwide call to protest the poor livelihood and low salaries of teachers and the failure of the Iranian government to meet their demands.
Isfahan’s protesting teachers held manuscripts with the following writing: We demand the elimination of any discrimination (ethnic, gender, religious, class) from the structure of the educational system.
The teachers also chanted slogans and said:
– Our salary is in rials, the expenses are in dollars
– We do not want an unworthy minister
– Esmail Abdi must be freed
– Free imprisoned teachers
– Independent and free association is our right
– Free education, high quality education, fair education
In Mashhad – Teachers and academics gathered at the Khorasan Razavi General Education Office as a response to the call for protest by teachers in Iran. Mr. Hashem Khastar, a civil activist and head of the Iranian Teachers’ Trade Association in Mashhad, was also in attendance at the protest gathering.
In Kazerun – Teachers and educators gathered in front of the Education Management Department of the city. Teachers also held placards and notes on which they wrote: A teacher’s place is in the classroom, not prison. The protesting academics also chanted: “Imprisoned teacher must be freed.”
In Bojnord – The teachers and academics gathered in front of in Bojnord’s Education Office in response to a call by teachers to stage nationwide protests. The security agents had besieged the teachers and did not allow any photographs and films to be taken by those present at the location.
In Mamassani – Hundreds of working and retired teachers and academics in the city gathered in front of the education department and responded to the previous call for a scheduled protest gathering, and protested against their poor livelihood and the abnormal situation of education in schools throughout the country, including in their own city. They installed a banner at the entrance of the administration with the following sentence written on it: “The teacher’s place is in the classroom, not at the taxi agency.”
