31,000 students return to school Saturday as strikes end: Halabja official
HALABJA, Kurdistan Region – Education in the province of Halabja will be back on track from Saturday following months of teachers’ strikes over salary cuts, the provincial education chief told reporters on Thursday morning.
Soran Omar Mustafa, the head of the Halabja education department, said in an announcement to teachers, students and parents that schools will reopen on Saturday.
Asked about the teachers who held a mass demonstration in the city on Sunday, vowing to continue strike action until the salary-cuts are abolished, Mustafa said he is confident the teachers are “loyal” to the education process, and that they understand the education system is on the “brink of collapse.”
The striking teachers do not want to punish “their own children,” Mustafa said.
Some schools have already suspended strike action, and on Saturday others are going to follow suit, Mustafa said.
There are roughly 31,000 students in Halabja and 143 schools and kindergartens. There are 4,734 teachers and education workers in the province, located about 214 km southeast of Erbil.
The strikes appear to be drawing to an end following the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG)’s decision to abolish salary-cuts for low earners and reduce cuts for others to 30 percent, down from about 60 percent.
It also comes as teachers and education workers have begun receiving their salaries for January under the new system.
Soran Omar Mustafa, the head of the Halabja education department, said in an announcement to teachers, students and parents that schools will reopen on Saturday.
Asked about the teachers who held a mass demonstration in the city on Sunday, vowing to continue strike action until the salary-cuts are abolished, Mustafa said he is confident the teachers are “loyal” to the education process, and that they understand the education system is on the “brink of collapse.”
The striking teachers do not want to punish “their own children,” Mustafa said.
Some schools have already suspended strike action, and on Saturday others are going to follow suit, Mustafa said.
There are roughly 31,000 students in Halabja and 143 schools and kindergartens. There are 4,734 teachers and education workers in the province, located about 214 km southeast of Erbil.
The strikes appear to be drawing to an end following the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG)’s decision to abolish salary-cuts for low earners and reduce cuts for others to 30 percent, down from about 60 percent.
It also comes as teachers and education workers have begun receiving their salaries for January under the new system.
Teachers across the Kurdistan Region visited public banks to collect their salaries on Thursday.
“It is very good now,” a teacher in Erbil said, For the last two years her wages had been cut by more than half, from 1.4 million dinars ($1166) to 580 ($483), she said.
“With the changes made, I receive 1,100,000 ($916) ... the financial problems for me are over now, and I can do my shopping just the way I like,” she added.
Education workers launched their strike about three months ago in the two provinces of Sulaimani and Halabja. They were joined by health workers last month, giving a boost to the anti-government protests.
“It is very good now,” a teacher in Erbil said, For the last two years her wages had been cut by more than half, from 1.4 million dinars ($1166) to 580 ($483), she said.
“With the changes made, I receive 1,100,000 ($916) ... the financial problems for me are over now, and I can do my shopping just the way I like,” she added.
Public teachers and health workers protested for the first time since the introduction of the 2016 popular cuts in both Erbil and Duhok provinces, resulting in clashed with riot police.
The KRG introduced the salary cuts at the time as a measure against the financial crisis, which was mainly caused by the Iraqi federal budget cuts in early 2014 and a drop in oil prices.
The KRG reviewed public wages after extra cash was injected by the Iraqi government in mid-March – a gesture from Baghdad marking the improved relationship between the two sides following the disputes of last year triggered by the Kurdish vote on independence.
Related: Sulaimani educators, health workers to end strike: officials