ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Authorities have increased pressure on Sulaimani’s teachers in a bid to end strike action that is entering its fifth month. Teachers are being threatened with firing and some have been called in to meet with security forces.
“According to the new guidelines of the Sulaimani education directorate, if they [non-contract teachers] do not return after seven days of absence, they will be expelled,” Karokh Abdullah, a representative of non-contract teachers, told Rudaw.
“But we will continue our demonstrations tomorrow. If that is prevented, we will continue to boycott classes until we are expelled,” he added.
According to new directives from the Sulaimani education directorate, if teachers are absent from classes 30 days after January 9, they could be fired, and non-contract teachers face 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 the condition of anonymity.
The source added that if an educational supervisor continues to strike, they will be stripped of their title.
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 situation was made worse last year when Turkey stopped Kurdistan’s oil exports, cutting off the KRG’s main income.
The ministry of education said earlier this month that it has agreed to some of the teachers’ demands - handing out promotions “within the legal framework” and signing contracts with teachers who are working without them “once the federal budget is amended and the financial entitlements of the Kurdistan Region are sent.”
Teachers and civil servants, however, have continued their strike, saying that the KRG has made similar promises to bring an end to previous work stoppages but failed to follow through once the strikes were over.
Abdullah said that teachers “went on strike for a reason” and they will not end the strike until their demands are met.
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.
“These teachers have been absent many times and this has affected the education process. They have been asked not to influence the teachers who have boycotted and not to encourage other teachers to boycott and they have been asked to return to schools,” Salam Abdulkhaliq, director of media for Sulaimani Asayish, told Rudaw.
Erbil is in discussions with Baghdad to amend the federal budget in a way that guarantees Kurdish civil servants will receive their salaries on time.
Last week, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani instructed his government to pay 618 billion dinars to the KRG to cover its payroll. The sum is for the month of January and comes from the "actual spending" outlined in the 2024 federal budget, according to Sudani’s office. The decision was made after Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani visited Baghdad and met with Sudani.
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