As we approach Teacher’s Week 2015, we are slowly entering the second year of the government of prudence and hope. President Rouhani, at the beginning of his term, considering the knowledge he had of the cultural community, teachers, and their demands, as well as the cultural mindset of educators towards the academic and managerial qualifications of Dr. Najafi, introduced him for a vote of confidence in the parliament. However, with the expectations of the composition of the parliament, it was not far from the mind that Dr. Najafi would not be successful in entering the government.

Dr. Fani was a figure with a long history in various management positions and levels, and their experiences, along with their low political dose, were a weight that encouraged the Rouhani government to introduce them to the parliament. Fani made many promises at the beginning of their career and especially during their interim position. A look at some of their actions and programs can help us analyze the current situation and also assist in predicting potential outcomes.

The story of demands

The important promise was the formation of the Economic Deputy, which according to him has faced opposition from the Organization for Management and Planning of the country. The argument of the Management Organization is that this matter is not in line with downsizing administrative or governmental structures.

The formation of this deputyship could have played a significant role in managing economic resources and even creating new resources for the purpose of generating income. It could also bring order to the process of education and the use of financial resources for education. However, it seems that there has been no significant effort or special cooperation in this matter, and even no letter has been written to the management organization regarding this.

One of the other important and challenging issues in this field is the discussion of increasing the extraordinary coefficient of employment according to Article 68 of the Law on Management of Public Services.

Until before the collective protest of educators to the Administrative Court regarding the applied coefficients, this coefficient was calculated as 800 for most educators, but in the new rulings, these coefficients have been raised to around 1300. In fact, the extraordinary profession of teachers faced an increase of almost 60%, which was significant, although educators and teachers believe that the relevant coefficients are still not being applied in accordance with the law.

One of the other important and challenging issues is the discussion of ranking teachers. According to the Fundamental Transformation Document, this clause must be implemented for teachers.

Officials of the Ministry of Education and Training initially tried to introduce it as a comprehensive solution to teachers’ livelihood problems, but over time and the ambiguity of some points have caused this situation to become less prominent.

In general, ranking is used to determine professional qualifications and classify them based on job competencies. This plan is tied to the historical livelihood and economic situation of teachers and even non-scientific issues. The most important problem with this plan is that it is still not clear who is responsible for implementing the ranking of teachers in education and training, and the criteria for scoring and ranking have not been clarified, and the financial resources to support this ranking system are not specified. Based on the experiences of others and accepted scientific principles in educational management, this should be carried out by the “Teachers’ System Organization”, an institution that was removed by the then Ministers of Education and Training in the final version of the Fundamental Transformation Document.

The most important issue is the implementation process and supervision, which unfortunately has many deficiencies and shortages in this sector. It seems that the lack of such an institution in education and training will pose a challenge to the success of this plan.

Another important point is that some materials and clauses in the law of public service management, such as clause 68, are not generally implemented for teachers, and a significant portion of teachers’ protests are related to this issue; a matter that educators and teachers in the country refer to as “discrimination”.

Currently, two million and three hundred thousand employees are working in the government and over one million teachers are employed in the Ministry of Education. There are various payments such as bonuses, rewards, bonuses, performance-based pay, welfare, allowances, overtime, and many other types of payments that differ from one department to another. It is unclear why, when the criteria for these payments in the government should be based on performance, quality of service, and satisfaction of the employer, the only criterion is the satisfaction of the head; why there are so many miscellaneous payments when only the satisfaction of the boss is taken into account, sometimes even exceeding the employee’s main and fixed salary.

The Research Center of the Iranian Parliament has reported a low percentage of productive working hours in the country. According to this report, the productive working hours of government employees are significantly lower than those of private sector employees.

According to Mehr News Agency, the annual useful work hours in Iran are 800 hours, while in Japan, South Korea, and China, the annual useful work hours are 2420, 1900, and 1420 hours respectively.

The Parliament Research Center states in its report that in the “most optimistic” scenario, the useful working hours per day are up to two hours, which does not add up to 11 hours per week. However, other statistics show 6 to 7 hours of useful work per week. According to the weekly working hours law in Iran, it is 44 to 49 hours.

With these interpretations, the philosophy behind the various payments that exist among government employees is being questioned more seriously than ever before, and the government of prudence and hope must think of a solution for this situation.

One of the challenging issues among cultural experts and teachers is their problem with gold insurance.

It has been decided that in the new year, a golden insurance will be offered in four packages to educators. The best of these packages, which is the first type and includes dental and eyewear services, has faced a 270% increase and this situation has led to protests by educators and teachers due to their low income and other issues.

Despite the major and minor problems that are evident in the livelihood of teachers and the economy of education, some issues still remain even after the change of government. Among these issues is the presence of some managers from the previous government who did not believe in the plans of the “Tadbir and Omid” government and their support is only superficial or symbolic.

As an example, the general manager of education and training in Tehran held two media sessions last year, in which I also attended. Esfandiar Chaharband promised to change some of the managers, but until now, almost a year has passed since those words and two years since the government’s term, nothing specific has been done. Even he has unexpectedly chosen his advisor from among active members of Ahmadinejad’s headquarters. Another notable issue in this regard is the dismissal of the general manager of education and training in Bushehr province under pressure from some members of parliament.

So far, at least three times, the whisper of impeaching the Minister of Education has been heard in the media, and some representatives are using this tool to advance their own interests under the guise of defending the rights and demands of teachers.

Educators and teachers believe that being temporary in government does not require agility and quickness. During budget discussions and related issues, they have been on the sidelines and have not shown the necessary stability and courage in front of the representatives of the parliament.

Such an atmosphere in education and the temporary situation in the public thoughts of educators has led an individual like Hamid Reza Hajibabaee, who has taken a opportunistic stance and even called for a debate on the current problems and challenges in education, which are the result of his management and his team.

Haji Babaei, as the Minister of Education in the Ahmadinejad government, has not yet responded to his critics. For example, despite numerous problems arising from the rushed and showy implementation of the “structural changes”, he still defends it. In the matter of uncontrolled employment, where, as they say, all the teacher employment coupons were used by the previous minister, and according to officials, there are 250,000 excess personnel in education, Haji Babaei has not given a clear response to these wrong and uncontrolled policies.

One of the other issues of concern is the situation of teachers who have been subjected to administrative and judicial sanctions during the ninth and tenth governments. A positive move in this regard was writing a letter to the head of the judiciary, which was met with support from teacher organizations, although no response was given. However, there has been no significant change in the cases of teachers who were convicted by the administrative violations committees of the Ministry of Education.

It seems that out of the approximately twenty advisors surrounding Fani, only Dr. Akrami is defending him and has taken a clear opposing stance against the representatives of the parliament.

The work of the group of the president.

“After numerous cultural letters and teacher group protests that began in early Mehr month of last year and were published on the Sakhne Moallem website, as well as the increase in teachers’ objections to the existing situation that started in late Bahman month of last year, President Rouhani issued an order on the 24th of Farvardin month of the current year to form a committee consisting of Eshaq Jahangiri, the first deputy of the president, Mohammad Bagher Nobakht, the head of the Management and Planning Organization of the country, and Ali Asghar Fani, the Minister of Education. Although a similar action was taken during the Reformist government, this shows the President’s attention to public opinion.”

Some educators and teachers believe that they should deal with their demands by planning and patience, as well as communicating and interacting with this committee instead of denying its existence or function. Some teachers also view these actions with pessimism and believe that such actions are a strategy to get through the crisis. It should be noted that some educators and teachers gathered in protest in the final days of 2014 in front of the education and training offices and even the governorates, negotiating with officials and even engaging in dialogue.

After the gathering of teachers in February 2007, which took place in front of the Islamic Consultative Assembly due to the government of Ahmadinejad’s withdrawal of the public service management law, and eventually the government finally complied with the demands of the teachers, a wave of arrests and detentions of activists of teacher organizations began throughout the country. For many of these activists, cases were formed in revolutionary courts and administrative violations committees, and after that, the community of educators in the country entered a nearly 8-year silence, and during this time, despite the closed and secure atmosphere, no movement or activity, even in the form of writing a letter, was observed by educators.

With the emergence of the government of prudence and hope and the opening of space for professional and civil activities, the desire to pursue demands among the cultural and teacher community has formed. Now, with the current situation and the experiences that activists of organizations and the teacher community have gained in the past decade, it must be seen to what extent these experiences will be learned from and whether there will be an opportunity to think about the cycle of “silence to protest” and prevent the reproduction of previous conditions. Will the teachers and educators, with their millions of widespread population, consider legal and low-cost solutions such as forming a “teacher faction in parliament” and using the potential of the media to manage public opinion and involve the community in their demands? We must wait and see…