Contract teachers opt to "optional strike" amid talks with Kurdish lawmakers in Baghdad

Shafaq News/The Council of Contract Teachers in Sulaymaniyah on Sunday said it is lobbying Kurdish lawmakers in Baghdad to pressure the government to grant them permanent status on the government payroll.

Contract teachers, who are not paid a regular salary and are instead given a stipend, have been protesting for months for better pay and benefits. A contract teacher said the current system treats them like a second-class citizens despite being essential to the education system in the governorate. 

"From tomorrow, Monday, every contract teacher can decide whether to continue with their official work or to join the boycott," Awaz Mohammed, a representative of the Council, told a news conference. "We in the Council of Objecting Teachers express our solidarity with the demands and efforts of teachers and employees, and we stress that the recent decision of the Federal Court came as a result of the teachers' struggle and their boycott of official work for the past five months."

Mohammed said the council had held several meetings with Iraqi lawmakers in order to ensure that teachers in the Kurdistan region are treated equally to their colleagues in the central and southern governorates.

"We demand that the Kurdish lawmakers find a legal way to include us in the permanent staff in the current year's budget," he said.