Iraq
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani (third from left) meeting with representatives of the Kurdistan Region's striking teachers in Baghdad on December 30, 2023. Photo: PM Sudani's office
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani on Saturday met with a group of striking teachers from the Kurdistan Region and discussed ongoing efforts in Baghdad to ensure payment of civil servant salaries in the Region.
The teachers told the prime minister about obstacles facing their institutions and the living conditions of teachers, according to a statement from Sudani’s office.
Dilshad Mirani, a representative of the teachers who attended the meeting, told Rudaw that Sudani promised to amend the budget law and solve the salary issue.
Teachers in the provinces of Sulaimani and Halabja and the administrations of Garmiyan, Raparin, and Koya have been on strike since September over unpaid wages by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).
Sudani assured the teachers that the federal government is making efforts to amend the federal budget law “with a specific focus on separating the salaries file from any financial complications” between Baghdad and Erbil, according to the statement from his office.
Baghdad is also committed to collaborating with the parliament’s finance committee and “supports any initiative aimed at securing the salaries of teachers,” the statement added.
Frequent delays in paying salaries has been an issue for the cash-strapped KRG for nearly a decade, especially since oil exports were halted in March, drying up government coffers.
Hundreds of teachers in late November planned to take their protest to Baghdad’s Tahrir Square and ask the federal government to take over paying their wages, but they were prevented from passing through checkpoints and traveling to the Iraqi capital.
The first term of the 2023-2024 academic year would have ended in December, but students in the striking provinces and administrations have not been to class yet as schools have remained closed.
Sudani’s office said in November that Baghdad has no objection to distributing the Kurdistan Region’s salaries directly, but would require Erbil to share its official employee data.
The teachers told the prime minister about obstacles facing their institutions and the living conditions of teachers, according to a statement from Sudani’s office.
Dilshad Mirani, a representative of the teachers who attended the meeting, told Rudaw that Sudani promised to amend the budget law and solve the salary issue.
Teachers in the provinces of Sulaimani and Halabja and the administrations of Garmiyan, Raparin, and Koya have been on strike since September over unpaid wages by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).
Sudani assured the teachers that the federal government is making efforts to amend the federal budget law “with a specific focus on separating the salaries file from any financial complications” between Baghdad and Erbil, according to the statement from his office.
Baghdad is also committed to collaborating with the parliament’s finance committee and “supports any initiative aimed at securing the salaries of teachers,” the statement added.
Frequent delays in paying salaries has been an issue for the cash-strapped KRG for nearly a decade, especially since oil exports were halted in March, drying up government coffers.
Hundreds of teachers in late November planned to take their protest to Baghdad’s Tahrir Square and ask the federal government to take over paying their wages, but they were prevented from passing through checkpoints and traveling to the Iraqi capital.
The first term of the 2023-2024 academic year would have ended in December, but students in the striking provinces and administrations have not been to class yet as schools have remained closed.
Sudani’s office said in November that Baghdad has no objection to distributing the Kurdistan Region’s salaries directly, but would require Erbil to share its official employee data.
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