It has been almost twenty-three years since the formation of teachers’ unions; twenty-three years accompanied by suppression, arrests, and expulsions. Union activities, which were hindered from the very beginning by a security-oriented government, are still under pressure and subject to suppression. Despite all of this, not only were these unions able to continue their activities throughout these years, but they also remain the largest national organization in the field of professional and civil activities, belonging to teachers.

On the eve of World Teachers’ Day (October 5th – 13th of Mehr), we take a look at the suppression of teachers’ activities in various governments of the Islamic Republic.

Khatami government: Beginning of activities, start of suppressions.

The “Reform Government” began its work with the slogan of change in governmental policies in the areas of social and political activities. The slogan of deepening civil society was one of the main priorities of the Khatami government. As a result, extensive advertising was carried out to create professional organizations, civil institutions, and political parties. However, what the Ministry of Information was pursuing in this government was the creation of controlled organizations. In fact, while we were witnessing the formation of the first professional organization of teachers in Iran after the 1979 revolution, in a short period of time, security and law enforcement forces were ordered to confront the teachers’ gatherings. In 1980, the last year of the first Reform Government, the first law enforcement confrontation with teachers’ gatherings took place in front of the Presidential Office on Pasteur Street. While for several months, as a result of the persistence of teachers’ demands for salary increases, gatherings were seen for the first time. Finally, the K

If the gatherings in 1980 were mostly spontaneous, field actions in the second government of Khatami were practically carried out by the Teachers’ Guild. Despite the government’s permission to hold public meetings in the first three years of the second government, the first organizational arrests were finally made in 1983 at the Teachers’ Guild. In the summer of 1983, after a series of fortifications and gatherings, three members of the board of directors of the Teachers’ Guild in Tehran were arrested. This arrest was somewhat indicative of the security institutions’ disappointment with the policy of suppression and control and the creation of artificial organizations.

Ahmadinejad government: Intensifying security measures.

The beginning of the Ahmadinejad government coincided with an increase in teacher union activities focused on demanding the Public Services Management Law.

This bill, which was sent to the parliament in the late days of the Khatami government, never received any executive action despite the promises of the “Spring government”. However, the policy of the Ahmadinejad government from the beginning was heavy security measures and suppression of gatherings. The activities of teacher unions during this period were carried out nationally and in coordination with the Council of Coordination of Teacher Unions. The holding of strikes and gatherings throughout the year 85 in various provinces ultimately led to the invitation of teachers from all over the country in front of the parliament building, by the decision of the Council. In the month of Esfand of 85, several widespread gatherings in front of the parliament ultimately led to extensive suppression on 23 Esfand, and on this day, hundreds of teachers and union activists were arrested. Although the majority of those arrested were released before the start of the new year, four members of the board of directors of the Tehran Teacher Union remained in prison until

The peak of security confrontations was in 88 and after the 88 election. Along with the expansion of security conditions in the country and the widespread arrests of political and civil activists, a number of teachers’ union activists were also arrested and received long prison sentences for the first time. The heavy atmosphere of suppression in the years after 88 was such that union activities practically came to a halt for a four-year period.

Rouhani government: Delegating suppression to the intelligence of the Revolutionary Guards.

The Rouhani government took over the management of the country in a situation where the increase in inflation and the pressure of sanctions had made living conditions for teachers more difficult. The expansion of social networks also facilitated communication among teachers across the country and extensive networking.

In such circumstances, in 1993, the first gatherings of teachers across the country were formed with demands for salary increases and the implementation of the Public Services Management Law. These gatherings continued in 1994, 1995, and 1996, and in 1997 and 1998, with the decision of the Coordination Council of Teachers’ Trade Unions, they took the form of sit-ins in schools. It was during the second term of President Rouhani that the issue of the deviant bill of ranking, proposed by Mohammad Bagher Nobakht, was raised in order to defeat the bill of public services management, which had never been implemented for executive teachers. As a result, the demands of teachers during the Rouhani administration were for the ranking plan for employed teachers and the equalization of rights for retired teachers. Another feature of this period was the gradual shift of teachers’ demands from economic demands to non-economic demands, such as free education, opposition to privatization

But what distinguished the years of Rouhani’s government in the field of suppression was the entry of information from the Revolutionary Guards into the files of trade union activists. At the beginning of the protests – in 1994 – five members of the board of directors of the Tehran Teachers’ Guild were arrested. In the following year, another member of this group was arrested and during the Teacher’s Day protest in April 2018, teachers were severely beaten and some of them were arrested. The majority of file-making and arrests during these years were carried out by the Revolutionary Guards and the Ministry of Intelligence of Rouhani’s government played a role in summoning, threatening, and controlling. The task of creating administrative files, such as separation, expulsion, or forced retirement, was the responsibility of this security institution. In other words, an unwritten division of labor was formed during this period between the Ministry of Intelligence and the Revolutionary Guards to suppress teachers. During the years 2018 to 2021,

Governmental Presidency: The most widespread gatherings, more.‌

The most detentions.

As the Khatami government handed over the fate of the Public Services Management Bill to the final years of its term and ultimately sent the bills for approval to the parliament in 2004, the Rouhani government, during its eight years in power, with its rhetoric and diversionary discussions, delayed the implementation of the Ranking Plan and finally presented bills titled “Ranking Plan” to the parliament in 2020 – the final year of its term. In 2021, coinciding with the start of the Raisi government, widespread gatherings were formed throughout the country demanding the implementation of the Ranking Plan and the implementation of the Harmonization Plan. Close to more than ten nationwide gatherings were held during this year, and in some of these gatherings, teachers took to the streets in more than one hundred cities across the country. These gatherings, in terms of the number of participants and cities involved, were the most extensive field actions of teachers during their 23 years of professional activities.

From the very beginning, the government put security measures on the agenda. In the year 1400, teachers in the provinces of Fars, Gilan, Khuzestan, Alborz, and Tehran were beaten and arrested in gatherings. But the peak of security measures was on the eve of Teachers’ Day in Ordibehesht 1401. Two days before the Teachers’ Day gathering, a number of union activists were arrested in Tehran and Kurdistan provinces. Despite these arrests, which failed to prevent the teachers’ gatherings, more than one hundred union activists were arrested throughout the country during the gatherings in Ordibehesht and Khordad of that year, making it practically impossible to hold any kind of gathering. It should be noted that this number does not include teachers who were arrested during each gathering and were released after one or two days with the formation of a case and bail. The special feature of these security measures during this period, in addition to their intensity

These confrontations and security crackdowns continue in the current government, but since the 23rd of activism, teachers have been able to create extensive networks of activism throughout the country, so there has been no real halt in their activities.