ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) on Monday called on teachers in Sulaimani and Halabja provinces to end their strike, stressing that it has “yielded no result.”
The majority of schools in the provinces of Sulaimani and Halabja and the administrations of Garmiyan, Raparin, and Koya have yet to open their doors for the academic year that began in September 2023. Teachers are on strike over unpaid wages by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), which has been unable to pay its civil sector employees regularly, on time, and in full for nearly a decade.
The PUK, which effectively controls the local governments in both Sulaimani and Halabja provinces, said in a statement on Monday’s leadership council meeting that "it is not fair to allow the education process to be postponed any further."
According to directives from the Sulaimani education directorate, if teachers are absent from classes 30 days after January 9, they could be fired, with non-contract teachers facing the same repercussion if they do not return to classes within seven days from January 16, a source from the education directorate told Rudaw on Saturday on the condition of anonymity.
However, striking teachers vowed to continue their strike and held one of their largest demonstrations on Sunday.
“We will continue our demonstrations tomorrow. If that is prevented, we will continue to strike classes until we are expelled,” Karokh Abdullah, a representative of non-contract teachers, told Rudaw.
On Saturday, Sulaimani security forces (Asayish), called in around 12 representatives of teachers ahead of a planned demonstration on Sunday. The teachers were released later the same day.
“As a result of over three months of teachers’ demonstrations and strikes, showed that the continuance of strikes only in this area [Sulaimani and Halabja], has not yielded any results apart from damaging Sulaimani, its surroundings and the students of this area,” continued the PUK statement.
Bahroz Rashid, a teacher who attended the Sunday demonstration a day after the security forces briefly detained their representatives, told Rudaw they would continue the strike no matter what.
"A lot of pressure has been exercised against our representatives, but we will not end the strike because of the pressure of the government," he said as he and thousands of teachers and public servants took to the streets in Sulaimani.
The PUK statement comes as the KRG's education ministry stated that around 600 schools have been reopened in the areas where the strikes are taking place, a number that was disputed by the striking teachers.
Shakhawan Walid, a teacher from Said Sadiq, some 45 km southeast of Sulaimani, said not one single primary school is open in his town.
"There are 65 contract teachers in [Said Sadiq], and 1200 teachers [in total], they are all here attending the demonstration," Walid told Rudaw’s Peshawa Bakhtyar.
In Garmiyan administration's Kalar, a city south of Sulaimani, several schools have reopened.
"As a seventh-grade student, I am happy the school is once again open, and that we did not miss out on this year's study," Mohammed Shwan told Rudaw upon resuming his classes last week.
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