ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A representative of non-contract teachers in Erbil was released on bail on Sunday, a day after he was detained following a call for protests as teachers across Halabja and Sulaimani provinces continue to strike.
Ali Rauf, representative of Erbil’s non-contract teachers, told Rudaw on Saturday that they planned to stage a “peaceful protest” in front of the building of the council of ministers in the Kurdish capital. He was detained on Saturday evening and spent the night at Erbil's police directorate.
Rauf’s lawyer Bashdar Hasan told Rudaw on Sunday that his client was released on one million dinars (around $640) bail.
As Rauf was being released in Erbil, teachers held protests in Sulaimani city center, Halabja city, and Garmiyan and Raparin independent administrations, as well as eastern Erbil's Koya district.
Their demands remain the same after weeks of strike action - non-contract teachers call for permanent employment and permanent teachers demand the government pay their salaries on time.
Kurdistan Region’s teachers received their August salaries on November 6. They are yet to be paid for September and October.
The cash-strapped government has struggled to meet its payroll for several years. Civil servants went unpaid for around 90 days before a deal was struck between Baghdad and Erbil in mid-September. The federal government agreed to lend Erbil 2.1 trillion Iraqi dinars to pay three months of salaries.
The government has also put a freeze on new hires and promotions as part of austerity measures.
On Saturday, Rauf said that for non-contract teachers, their “only demand was their own right,” which is permanent employment.
The new school year began on September 13 in the Kurdistan Region, but public schools in Sulaimani and Halabja have remained closed. The striking teachers’ resolve to continue protesting was unaffected 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.
Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani last month also urged teachers across the Region to stop striking so that students can resume their studies. He said the government was “making every effort to improve the current situation.”
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