Sunday, March 4, 2007

Angry Teachers

One of the most important labor forces of Iranian society along with its oil industry workers are school teachers. Around 20 milion Iranians are students at primary, junior and high school levels. And if teachers are angry at their government and not happy with what they do, which is to educate the masses, then there is clearly some thing wrong in the society. And I guess that is how it is like in Iran 28 years after the damned Islamic revolution. Every body is unhappy with the mullahs and majority of Iranians want profound changes. Pictures

Yesterday, thousands of teachers from across the country gathered in front of the Iranian regime's Islamic Assembly to express their frustration with the short-comings and show their anger at current overwhelming discriminations existing in their working environments. I should remind you that teachers are among the lowest paid public servants in Iran. To give you a clear picture of how bad it is for them, then I must say that some one who has spent 30 years of his/her life educating thousands of people, and is nearing retirement, might receive some thing around US$ 250-300 per month. And the minimum rent for a small apartment in a not so great neighborhood of Tehran is like US$ 150/month. Forget the food, transportation and clothing expenses of an adult man or woman. Now imagine if this very same person has to feed his/her family too. Isn't it terrible?

I think they are absolutely right to be angry at the clerical establishment and unfortunately, all I can do is to post the pictures of their tired and frustrated faces. It's a shame that an oil rich country can't even feed its own people...

Pictures of the gathering / More photos / Here are more

Video of the protest

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great! These kinds of videos need to get out of Iran all the time for the world to see.

The men chant 2 different things at the end. What do they say?

Rosemary Welch said...

They are getting out of Iran. They have been getting out of Iran for years now. How long is going take before you pick up the phone and call Congress (202-224-3121) and the White House (202-456-1111)?

I feel the same frustration, Winston. Except mine is turning into anger...