Iranian teachers on strike were joined by more demonstrators on their second day of protests against diminishing wages and worsening living conditions in Iran.
Social media circulated images of teachers protesting across Iranian provinces, most of whom were carrying posters demanding that their union demands be heard by authorities.
On its second day, the national strike has seen the participation of teachers from Tehran, Khorasan, Isfahan, Azerbaijan, Kurdistan, Bushehr, Kerman, Faris and Ahwaz provinces.
The Coordinating Council of Teachers Syndicates in Iran (CCTSI) called upon teachers to cancel lessons and to hold sit-ins in their schools on October 14 and 15 to protest inflation and increased costs of living.
It is not clear whether or not the strike will last for the third day.
This strike comes to join other social strikes sweeping across Iran since early January 2018.
Over 80 Iranian cities have been the stage for massing protests against a plummeting national economy, seeing at least 20 people being killed and hundreds getting arrested.
CCTSI published a strongly-worded statement criticizing against the economy and widespread arrests of members of the teachers union.
“Out-of-control inflation and climbing prices have gripped the country, and the purchasing power of teachers, like that of many other hard-working classes, has fallen significantly,” the CCTSI said in a statement ahead of the strike.
“What’s more, the cost of education is on the rise, and the Iranian government and parliament have failed to answer to teachers’ faltering quality of life and the ailing education system. The time has come for us to protest this systemic disorder.”
The CCTSI said, “the majority of teachers live below the poverty line” as a result of cuts and the “looting” of the Teachers’ Savings Fund.
“These October sit-ins are only the beginning: if we don’t see swift, constructive, and concrete changes to the pay slips of active and retired educational employees, and to per-capita funding of students, we will escalate our general strikes come November.”
Over the past three years, the Iranian judiciary has arrested, exiled and imprisoned CCTSI members.
Reformist MP Mahmoud Sadeghi said in a press conference that the parliament is highly concerned with CCTSI demands.
He called on Iranian officials to recognize the rights of teachers to protest as well as to meet their demands “and respond in a proper manner.”
