October 5th celebrated as World Teachers’ Day, provides an opportunity to emphasize teachers’ crucial role in shaping future generations and developing societies. In this brief article, we examine the situation of female teachers in Iran.
Under the rule of the clerical regime in Iran, female teachers face numerous challenges, including gender discrimination, wage disparity, balancing dual responsibilities of work and home, inadequate educational resources, and psychological pressure.
These barriers have prevented female teachers, the backbone of the education system, from fully fulfilling their vital role in shaping the future of Iran’s children.
According to 2015 data, over 65% of primary school teachers were women. In 2019, the regime’s Education Ministry advisor stated, “We have 500,000 female teachers, making up 60% of the total teaching staff.” However, just two years later, the Minister of Education reported that this figure had decreased to 54%. (Iranian Students’ News Bulletin, May 21, 2022). No updated statistics have been released since.
Challenges Faced by Female Teachers: Beyond Professional Hurdles
Female teachers in Iran contend with a wide range of challenges that affect the quality of education and their social and economic well-being. Social and familial pressures create significant stress, leading to a decline in the quality of their teaching. Moreover, inadequate financial support, job insecurity, and the failure to implement supportive programs like the Teachers’ Ranking Plan have only worsened their situation.
Teacher Shortage and Declining Quality of Education in Iran
In recent years, the shortage of teachers has become a crisis for Iran’s education system. Currently, the country faces a shortage of at least 260,000 teachers. This issue is particularly severe in rural and marginalized areas, where it has significantly reduced the quality of education. Some schools have been forced to rely on unqualified personnel, such as members of the Basij militia and seminary students.
According to Asr-e Iran (September 21, 2024), Iran faces a shortfall of 176,000 teachers in the new academic year. Many school principals and teachers have been forced to prematurely retire due to ideological differences with the regime.
In the final days of Ebrahim Raisi’s administration, the government decided to delay the retirement of teachers for a year by offering them incentives such as bonuses to address the teacher shortage. (Tejarat News, September 14, 2024)
Admissions of Teacher Shortage
Alireza Monadi-Sefidan, a member of the regime’s parliament, acknowledged the gravity of theteacher shortage, stating, “By October this year, we will likely face a shortfall of 70,000 to 80,000 teachers. We have classrooms with 50 to 60 students being taught by one teacher, simply because schools do not have enough teachers. This is extremely dangerous.” (Entekhab Daily, July 23, 2024)
Parviz Aliyari, an education expert and high school teacher in Iran, also criticized the government’s approach: “Unfortunately, instead of focusing on solving the problems, officials spend most of their time denying the facts. The reality is that public schools have always faced a shortage of teachers, but the issue became more critical in recent years with the dismissal of some teachers and educators.” (Tejarat News, September 14, 2024)
Despite the severe teacher shortage, the Raisi administration dismissed or forced the early retirement of between 15,000 and 20,000 school principals due to ideological differences with the regime. (Rouydad 24, June 20, 2024)
Statistics indicate that there are only 735,350 teachers for nearly 17 million students in Iran. The lack of teachers has forced the Ministry of Education to compel school principals and administrative staff to take on teaching duties. A deputy minister cited temporary contracts, student-teachers, and retirees as potential solutions to the teacher shortage crisis. (Tasnim News Agency, September 17, 2024)
A Noble Profession, Yet Meager Income
In recent years, teachers have engaged in widespread protests, demanding the implementation of the Ranking Plan. This plan aims to improve the quality of education while enhancing the status of teachers. The ranking system allows teachers to receive better financial and career benefits based on their performance. According to the plan, teachers are divided into five categories, with their salary determined by their rank. Teachers with 24 years of experience can achieve the highest rank, Rank 5. However, due to financial constraints and the government’s lack of commitment, many teachers remain deprived of these benefits.
According to the spokesperson for the Ministry of Education, the average salary of teachers has reached 16.42 million tomans (around $315). This amount includes both newly hired teachers and those with 30 years of experience, calculated for just 24 hours of teaching per week. By contrast, in countries like Switzerland and Luxembourg, annual teacher salaries can reach as high as $90,000, while some Iranian teachers struggle to make do with a monthly income equivalent to $166.
Repression of Teachers and the Protest Movement
In recent years, many teachers’ union activists have faced arrest, dismissal, or imprisonment. Some have been placed under house arrest for their union activities, while others remain behind bars. The spokesperson for the Teachers’ Union reported the dismissal of 320 teachers and the sentencing of 28 protesting teachers to imprisonment. Female teachers have not been spared from these pressures and threats either.
In August 2024, the forced retirement order of Lida Esmaeili, an educator from Alborz, was referred to the Administrative Justice Court.
Maryam Mehrabi, a teacher imprisoned in Isfahan, was sentenced by the city’s Revolutionary Court to six years of imprisonment and additional punitive measures.
Kowkab Badaghi Pegah, a teacher from Khuzestan, was suspended from work for four months in the city of Izeh. In September, the appellate court of Yazd upheld the sentence against Venus Ameri, a retired teacher and city council member, which included a fine and supplementary punishment. Sakineh Maleki, a teacher and union activist from Gilan, was dismissed from her position.
Fatemeh Tadrisi, a teacher residing in Tehran, was arrested by security forces on May 9, 2023, during a teachers’ protest in Tehran. On January 3, 2024, she was sentenced to six years in prison and two years of exile in Zanjan. She is presently detained in Fardis Prison of Karaj.
Somayeh Akhtarshomar, an experienced English teacher with a 17-year tenure in the schools of Marivan, Iranian Kurdistan, was dismissed in March 2024 following a series of contentious allegations.
Maryam Jalal Hosseini was arrested by security forces on May 9, 2023. On January 3, 2024, she was sentenced to seven years of imprisonment, two years of exile to Ilam province, a two-year ban on leaving the country, and the cancellation of her passport. She is presently detained in Fardis Prison of Karaj.
In April 2024, Gilan’s Department of Education in northern Iran, sentenced Zahra Sayyad Delshadpour, a high school teacher in Bandar Anzali, to compulsory retirement, among other things, for “participating in rallies and sit-ins.”
Teacher rights activists emphasize that their demands are not solely economic. They also oppose ideological indoctrination in education and advocate for better educational resources and facilities.
The Future Outlook
With women making up over 50% of the teaching workforce, teachers are the pillars of societal progress. To fulfill their responsibilities, they require both financial and social support. However, as long as the anti-women, anti-culture regime of the clerics remains in power, these supports will not materialize.
The struggle for the rights of teachers and all Iranian women will only be achieved through the establishment of a government that is based on the people’s will. Undoubtedly, that day is not far off.
