“On Sunday, teachers and employees of nearly 200 schools were paid their salaries. Today, Monday, teachers and employees of more than 400 schools and 30 kindergartens will be paid their salaries,” Sherzad Rashid Kaka, the supervisor of Kurdish education in Kirkuk, told Rudaw.
Salaries were paid in Kirkuk later than in the rest of the Kurdistan Region because the payroll list was not ready.
There are 615 schools and 32 kindergartens in Kirkuk where education is in Kurdish. They have more than 8,100 staff.
Kurdish education in Kirkuk faced a setback when the city came under control of Iraqi forces last October. Many teachers fled to the Kurdistan Region and some parents have opted to send their children to Arabic schools.
The Kurdish education teachers are paid by the KRG and are on the payroll of the Region’s education ministry.
Some Kirkuk teachers joined in the recent widespread public sector strikes, protesting the unpopular salary-saving system.
Kaka denied that the payroll of the Kurdish teachers will be transferred to the Iraqi government, accusing some of using reports of this for “political gains and obtaining more.”
“This can only be done through a political agreement on a high level, which is yet to be done,” he explained.
The majority of teachers from the Kurdistan Region ended their strike action after Erbil eased the salary reductions.
The government’s amended salary saving system applies to nine ministries, and a number of commissions and committees such as the Transparency Board, the electoral commission, and the board of Kurdistani areas.
