A group of employed and retired teachers protested in front of the Ministry of Education in Tehran on the International Teacher’s Day.

According to social media reports, the protesters were chanting “Shout against all this injustice” and “astronomical wages, the cause of this misery.”

The protesters also carried signs that read: “The right to form independent associations, assemblies, strikes, and freedom of speech without becoming a security issue” and “stop privatizing schools.”

According to state-owned ILNA, the teachers said: “Our main demands are the improvement of quality of life for working and retired teachers, paying what they are owed, healthcare improvement, and stopping the privatization.”

The Coordination Council of teachers’ associations in Iran issued a statement criticizing the current educational policies.

“We remind those who name this year as the year of ‘young teachers’ that if today according to the minister of education, we have a deficit of 108 thousand teachers, that is due to wrong policies of the ministry of education and neglecting teachers’ job security and quality of life,” the statement reads.

The statement continues: “Contractors hire young teachers for the lowest wages and sometimes without any contract or insurance. What kind of education can such teachers provide?”

In recent years, the Islamic Republic's Judiciary has repeatedly persecuted and incarcerated teachers for protesting.

In the most recent case, Hamid Reza Rahmati was sentenced to 3 years in prison, 74 public lashes, and 20 million rials in fines.