Sulaimani education head in emotional plea: End the strike, return to work

SULAIMANI, Kurdistan Region — Dilshad Omer, the director general of Sulaimani’s education directorate, warned on Monday that the education situation in the province is in danger, discouraging the continuation of strikes. 

“Therefore, I call on teachers to end the strike and return to work tomorrow,” Omer told reporters.

He described the government’s changes so far as good, adding that the government has responded to some of the demands of teachers. 

Omer is a member of the opposition party, Gorran, and he has threatened to resign if teachers do not return to work. 

He promised to support the teachers if the government fails to keep its promises. 

“This is going to be last statement and we will no longer demand them to end the strike,” said Omer.

Almost crying, the head of education asked teachers to change their minds and return to work “for the sake of the blood of martyrs.”

In Halabja, teachers took to the streets on Sunday vowing to continue their strike until they receive “guarantees” from the KRG to pay their salaries regularly. 

Teachers and health workers in Sulaimani have vowed to continue their strike until the KRG pays their salaries in full. 

Othman Golpi, who has been a spokesperson for the protesting teachers, said on Saturday will not end their strikes until their demands are “fully met.”

“Health workers will continue their strikes,” Hawzhin Othman, the head of the Kurdistan Health Syndicate Sulaimani branch, told Rudaw during a protest on Saturday. 

Select and relevant members of the parliament were to hold an extraordinary session on Monday. They were hopeful that the current spending bill can be revised to end the unpopular salary saving system. 

The salary saving system was introduced amid a financial crisis in 2016. The unpopular austerity measures have resulted in salaries being delayed, reduced by various amounts to civil servants, and sometimes not sent at all.

 

The highly unpopular cuts have provoked a backlash among public sector workers with protests spreading in March throughout the Kurdistan Region's major cities.