by Cyrus Yaqubi
Iran is at the bottom of the world school rankings, ranking 51st out of 76 countries.
While teachers all over the world have a special respect among the people and even governments and consider the responsibility of the teacher even higher than the responsibility of parents, but in Iran under the rule of the mullahs, the job of a teacher not only is not credible but also Iranian teachers do not even have minimums of an ordinary life. Teachers’ salaries are not even enough to support their living expenses, and many of them have to work in other means, such as Uber drivers to make ends meet.
Most teachers are tenants and do not even dream of owning a home. In the past few years, the clerical regime, in order not to be burdened with teachers’ pensions, has hired temporary teachers to have a free hand to fire them whenever they want. Some of these teachers, who now have 10 years of service, are still working temporarily, and the Ministry of Education say they are not eligible for employment.
Of course, according to them, the necessary condition means full commitment to the government of the Supreme Leader and not educational competencies. As Khamenei said in his speech on the occasion of Teacher’s Day to the Minister and directors of education: “It should not be the case that everyone enters education like this.” Teachers must have passed the “filter of Farhangian University”, which meant the filter of dependence on Velayat-e-Faqih.
And while the Iranian education system is facing a shortage of 197,000 full-time teachers, more than 58 thousand Employed as a temporary teacher. Of these, only 6% are insured and more than 94% do not have health insurance premiums. This situation has caused teachers to protest continuously in the past few years and demand their rights in various gatherings in all cities of Iran.
But instead of heeding their demands, the regime has cracked down on teachers by arresting, detaining, firing, deporting their leaders, and effectively reducing their salaries by reducing their teaching hours.
According to education officials over the past year, they have been able to save 40% on education costs. On the other hand, by implementing a privatization policy in order to make the most of teachers, on the one hand, imposes comprehensive poverty on teachers, and on the other hand, by building private schools for the rich class of the society who are affiliated with the government, they have practically provided the most educational opportunities for these people.
For example, in a private school, there are 12 students in each class, while in a public school, there are at least 38 students in one class. At the same time, while public or regular schools should not charge students and according to the constitution, education should be free, but these schools also force families to pay various fees as voluntary assistance.
This is the situation of education and schools in big cities. In small and remote towns, the situation of schools is indescribable and must be seen to believe. There are hundreds of hut schools in the southern provinces of the country, such as Sistan and Baluchestan and Kerman, which have almost no facilities such as water and electricity or even benches and chairs for students.
And according to the Islamic Republic News Agency, there are about 5,000 container schools in the country, which are very cold in the cold regions and very hot in the south of the country, and are absolutely not suitable for education. In the cities, more than 30% of schools are dilapidated, which due to the fact that Iran is located in an earthquake-prone area, in the event of an earthquake during school hours, we have to wait for heavy losses due to the destruction of these schools.
As a result of all these policies of the regime, not only the teachers but also the students are the ones who have suffered the most from this situation.
As recent studies show every year, the literacy level of high school students goes down and down.
And Iran is at the bottom of the world school rankings, ranking 51st out of 76 countries.
It is clear that this situation cannot last for long because people know that Iran is one of the richest countries in the world and the main reason for this situation is the widespread corruption of the ruling system, which instead of considering the educational situation only thinks of looting more and more for their own interests. And sooner or later the protests that are now being carried out peacefully by the teachers will turn into a raging river that will destroy the existing corrupt government in its path.
Cyrus Yaqubi is a Research Analyst and Iranian Foreign Affairs Commentator investigating the social issues and economy of the middle east countries in general and Iran in particular.
