SULAIMANI (ESTA) — The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) President, Bafel Talabani, met with representatives of non-contract teachers across Kurdistan who have a long-standing demand for employment and full contract from the government.
In a statement shared on Thursday regarding the meeting, the non-contract teachers said “The PUK president has offered his party support on both government and party levels.”
“We must conduct fundamental reforms in the education system to build an advanced society,” Talabani said in the meeting, according to a separate statement from his media office.
“Teachers must be respected,” Talabani said. “The education sector is far more important than oil and gas,” he added.
Moreover, the PUK president promised to support the demand of the non-contract teachers, saying “Our efforts to secure a decent glorious life for you will continue.”
There are more than 33,000 non-contract teachers across the Kurdistan Region who make up the bulk of the Kurdish education sector, having a long-standing demand from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) for employment and full contract.
The non-contract teachers are paid based on the number of lessons they are given per day. The minimum amount per lesson given to teachers holding a bachelor’s degree is 4,000 Iraqi dinars ($2.7).
The KRG has so far could not meet the non-contract teachers’ demand. For years, they have held dozens of mass protests and rallies, particularly in Erbil where the KRG council of ministers is stationed, in protest of the government’s failure to take action.
