Some Sulaimani teachers return after receiving ‘incentive pay’

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — A KRG official announced on Tuesday that schools in Sulaimani partially have resumed classes after teachers ended their boycott, adding that starting from now on incentive payments will be disbursed.

Abdulwahid Mohammed, the head of the Kurdistan Teachers Union told Rudaw on Tuesday that “efforts made by all the relevant parties contributed to the end of the strikes in some schools.”

He added that any further strikes would “negatively impact the process because missing any other day will be difficult to compensate for.”

Mohammed believes the incentive payments “greatly contributed” to the partial ending of the teachers’ strikes. 

“The distribution of the April 2017 incentive payments will start from today,” he said, adding they would expect “the resumption of classes across the Sulaimani province.”

The incentive pay amounts to 100,000 Iraqi dinars (about $84) monthly. It covers the transportation expenses of teachers inside cities and 150,000 dinars for remote teachers outside of towns and cities.

Classes in Sulaimani were halted in January, less Grade 12 students. More than 700,000 pupils were affected.

Teachers have staged frequent protests since their salaries were halted by Baghdad, with the KRG later taking austerity measures which effectively halved their wages. 

In 2016, the KRG introduced austerity measures responding to ongoing financial crises caused by a drop in global oil prices, the ISIS conflict, budget cuts from Iraq, and an influx of 1.8 million IDPs and Syrian refugees.

Baghdad and Erbil are locked in a political stalemate over budget shares.