Sessional teachers have been working in Iran for years. However, a recent law in Iran is set to prohibit the employment of these sessional teachers.
According to Trend News Agency, the Islamic Republic's Guardian Council in a new ruling stated that the employment of sessional teachers is against the law and that their employment would violate Article 73 of the Constitution, the Public Relations office added.
Top News also added in a report that the ruling came as the Parliament two weeks ago referred to the Guardian Council a bill on the employment of sessional teachers with over three years of service in the Education Ministry. The council was required to provide its interpretation of the constitution vis-agrave;-vis this bill.
There are thousands of sessional teachers across Iran and the new ruling defies the hopes of these teachers who have been in the country for a long time after failed efforts at employment.
Iranian teachers have complained of being underpaid compared to other teachers in other countries. Several groups of teachers went on strike last March in reaction to the low budget assigned for the Iranian Education Ministry, according to another report on Trend News Agency.
There were around 600 teachers who gathered in front of the Iranian parliament last March. Aside from that, there were also strikes in various areas including Razavi Khorasan, Luristan, Hormozgan, Kurdistan, Khuzestan, Fars and Qazvin provinces.
The spokesman of the Iranian Teachers Union Mahmoud Beheshti Langaroudi previously said that the teachers were not happy with the budget and that the union has requested the Interior Ministry to hold a rally in front of the parliament to air their grievances.
Aside from being underpaid, some teachers were on strike in various regions such as Eslamshahr, Robat Karim, Karah, Shiraz, Shahrood, Saqqez, Bane and Marivan to protest against poor living conditions.
The new law on prohibiting the employment of sessional teachers will decrease the number of teachers in the upcoming years unless taken as a regular teacher by a college or university.
