Started from students now to teachers: Another democratic move in Kurdistan



Today several thousands teachers in Suleimani demonestrated in demands for higher wages and better education sysetms in Kurdistan. The move is of a great importance to Kurdistan because it can be a start of civil socieities and democratic movements in which the power of people is respected.
Unfortunately in Kurdistan the Teachers Unions are part of the government, i.e. in Suleimani, the Kurdistan Teachers Union is handled by the PUK, and in Erbil and Duhok, the Teachers Union is handed by KDP.

The PUK's Teachers Union issued a warning to teachers not to participate in the event, but despite that between 5 to 7 thousands teachers today participated in the protest and promised of strikes if their demands were ignored. The teachers are saying they are paying estimated 9.5 Million Iraqi dinars a month to the Union, and despite that, the Union does not represent them.

Last week students in Suleimani also won a great victory against the Kurdistan government by forcing the government to close a controversial university (the decision has not been implemented yet).

These are very encouraging news for the establishment of a civil and democratic society in Kurdistan and can be a good model for other regions to follow.

update:
The teachers met the deputy Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Government and he promised them to approve their demands and create a government-teachers team to handle the issues.