ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Teachers in Sulaimani and Halabja provinces on Tuesday took to the streets for the seventh consecutive week, demanding that the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) pay their salaries on time.
Despite having received wages for the month of August on Monday, teachers did not break their strike and refused to return to classes.
Their resolve to continue protesting was unaffected even by Kurdistan Region’s Minister of Education Alan Hama Saaed’s statement last month that teachers “must end” their strikes and return to the classroom.
“It has been like this for over 10 years, teachers are not boycotting for a salary or two, they are boycotting because their will has been broken. This broken will must be healed,” Tariq Abdullah, a representative of non-contract teachers in Ranya told Rudaw.
Abdullah said non-contract teachers demand permanent employment and permanently employed teachers demand their wages to be paid on time and the KRG to resume promotions, which were halted by a government decree in 2015 due to the economic crisis that plagued the Region.
The new school year began on September 13 in the Kurdistan Region but public schools in parts of the Region including Sulaimani and Halabja have remained closed as a result of the strikes.
There are concerns that the continued strikes may severely compromise the education system across the Kurdistan Region.
Abdullah noted that according to their investigations, the strikes may compromise the education system throughout the Region, including in Duhok and Erbil provinces where classes continue normally, “It is not possible for the education process in a region to be unaffected in some areas and boycotted in others,” he said.
“We will continue maintaining our stance until we obtain the rights we have been striving for for years,” Abdullah said.
Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani last month urged teachers across the Region to stop striking so that students could resume their studies, reassuring that the KRG was “making every effort to improve the current situation.”
The Kurdistan Region’s civil servants went unpaid for around 90 days before a deal was struck between Baghdad and Erbil in mid-September, in which the federal government agreed to lend the KRG 2.1 trillion Iraqi dinars to pay the salaries for three months.
Teachers are yet to receive their salaries for the months of September and October.
Despite having received wages for the month of August on Monday, teachers did not break their strike and refused to return to classes.
Their resolve to continue protesting was unaffected even by Kurdistan Region’s Minister of Education Alan Hama Saaed’s statement last month that teachers “must end” their strikes and return to the classroom.
“It has been like this for over 10 years, teachers are not boycotting for a salary or two, they are boycotting because their will has been broken. This broken will must be healed,” Tariq Abdullah, a representative of non-contract teachers in Ranya told Rudaw.
Abdullah said non-contract teachers demand permanent employment and permanently employed teachers demand their wages to be paid on time and the KRG to resume promotions, which were halted by a government decree in 2015 due to the economic crisis that plagued the Region.
The new school year began on September 13 in the Kurdistan Region but public schools in parts of the Region including Sulaimani and Halabja have remained closed as a result of the strikes.
There are concerns that the continued strikes may severely compromise the education system across the Kurdistan Region.
Abdullah noted that according to their investigations, the strikes may compromise the education system throughout the Region, including in Duhok and Erbil provinces where classes continue normally, “It is not possible for the education process in a region to be unaffected in some areas and boycotted in others,” he said.
“We will continue maintaining our stance until we obtain the rights we have been striving for for years,” Abdullah said.
Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani last month urged teachers across the Region to stop striking so that students could resume their studies, reassuring that the KRG was “making every effort to improve the current situation.”
The Kurdistan Region’s civil servants went unpaid for around 90 days before a deal was struck between Baghdad and Erbil in mid-September, in which the federal government agreed to lend the KRG 2.1 trillion Iraqi dinars to pay the salaries for three months.
Teachers are yet to receive their salaries for the months of September and October.
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