A member of the Kirkuk Provincial Council, stated that numerous complaints from teachers and education employees in Kirkuk are reaching the council daily as the council has received a total of 150 complaints.
These complaints led to an "emergency meeting" held on October 6 at the Kirkuk Provincial Council building. The meeting was attended by the president, several council members, and the Director General of Education.
Parwin Fatih, member of the Kirkuk Provincial Council, informed KirkukNow, "The meeting focused on addressing the issues of teachers, organizing them at the school and education levels under the Kirkuk General Directorate of Education. We have received 150 complaints since assuming office. Employees and teachers are dissatisfied, prompting us to convene this urgent meeting.”
Teachers employed by the state serve several years at rural areas then transferred to schools at the center of the city and mostly prefer premises close to their residence to avoid transportation.
"There are cases of teachers being relocated far from their homes, even while battling cancer. Others have been teaching at a school near their homes for 17 years meaning they served at rural areas, but now are transferred to a school out of town," Fatih explained.
“We have invited director general of education to ensure the proper implementation of laws and measures," she added.
Iraq’s education infrastructure is in ruins in many parts of the country; one in every two schools is damaged and needs rehabilitation, says a report by the United Nations Children's Fund UNICEF about education in Iraq.
Many schools operate in multiple shifts due to inadequate buildings and staff in an attempt to accommodate as many students as possible, squeezing the little learning time that children have.
Mohammed Ibrahim Hafez, the council chairman, decided to establish a committee to reorganize teachers in Kirkuk schools based on student needs and community balance.
"Employees and teachers should be redistributed across regions to maintain the stability of the education process," he stated, according to a KirkukNow reporter present at the meeting.
The committee, comprised of Angel Zia, the council's rapporteur, Raad Saleh and Parwin Fatih, council members, aims to uphold the rights of any teacher whose rights have been violated in accordance with guidelines and laws.
"One school should not have 30 teachers while another has only 10. We aim to address these disparities, enforce measures and laws, and redistribute teachers based on school needs," Fatih emphasized.
The northern, oil-rich, ethnically mixed province of Kirkuk is home to about 1,77 million Kurds, Turkmen, and Arabs. Located 238 kilometers north of Baghdad, Kirkuk has long been at the center of disputes between the federal government in Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government KRG.
*This story has been produced as part of the 'Budget is Your Right' initiative, with support from the National Democratic Institute (NDI).
