Ehsan Azimi-Rad, spokesperson of the Parliament’s Committee on Education, Research and Technology, in an interview with the Khaneh Mellat correspondent regarding the status of contractual and part-time teaching personnel in the Ministry of Education, said: the Education Committee has taken several key steps to organize the situation of teachers. In the first stage, through follow-up efforts and with the cooperation of the Minister, the presence of this group as free part-time teachers was finalized in Mehr of last year, and they returned to classrooms.

The representative of Mashhad and Kalat in the Islamic Consultative Assembly, referring to the conversion of “service purchase teachers” to free part-time teachers under the Budget Law, added: through the efforts of the Education Committee, these personnel were supposed to be converted from “service purchase” to “part-time teaching,” and fortunately this was carried out with the cooperation of the Ministry. It was also attempted to raise their salaries from the low level of part-time teaching to a more reasonable amount, which was achieved with the cooperation of the Committee, the Ministry of Education, and the Money and Credit Council.

Referring to statements by provincial education directors, he said: this group of teachers is among the best in the country’s education workforce. Service-purchase teachers with 10 to 15 years of experience are among the strongest teachers; they teach full-time, can teach various grade levels, and many of them have been exemplary and top teachers. For this reason, we have insisted on converting their status to “fixed-term contractual employment.”

Azimi-Rad, referring to the legal process and follow-ups, stated: the Administrative and Recruitment Affairs Organization and the Ministry of Education announced their approval, but unfortunately the Plan and Budget Organization cited funding shortages as an excuse. Multiple meetings were held between the Chair of the Education Committee, committee members, and the head of the Plan and Budget Organization to resolve the issue. The forecasted funding required is 1.1 “hamt” for the current half-year and 2.8 “hamt” for next year. We explained that with a 10% increase in payments, the necessary funds for both periods could be secured without imposing a heavy financial burden on the government.

The spokesperson of the Education, Research and Technology Committee, referring to the letter by the head of the Plan and Budget Organization, stated: Pourmohammadi claimed that converting the status of this group of teachers would require about 5 “hamt” of funding, which is entirely incorrect. He referenced clauses (a), (b), and (t) of Article 88 of the Seventh Development Plan, whereas these provisions in no way prohibit teacher recruitment—they only emphasize a restriction on hiring new staff, and more importantly, they specify that if the recruitment capacities of Farhangian University and Article 28 are not fully met, the Ministry may use other capacities. Despite these clear reasons, the Plan and Budget chief claimed that these clauses constitute a prohibition.

He continued: given the emerging complications, I referred my question to the Minister of Education to the Social Committee, to clarify why the Ministry has taken no effective action to convert the status of part-time teachers into fixed-term employment contracts. In the related sessions, the Minister requested additional time to provide necessary answers; however, following the recent letter from the Plan and Budget Organization, the process has halted and the case risks complete stoppage.

The spokesperson of the Education, Research and Technology Committee added: the Education Committee has sent a letter to the Chairman of the Social Committee requesting that the matter be reviewed in the open session of Parliament. In my view, with the determination the Minister of Education has, and considering the President’s priority toward education, had Minister Kazemi worked closely with his deputies—who have not seriously pursued this issue—I am certain that these fixed-term contracts would have been finalized. In other words, this issue has simply not been a priority for the Ministry.

Azimi-Rad, emphasizing that with the recent letter from the head of the Plan and Budget Organization, it appears that all efforts to convert free part-time teachers to fixed-term contracts may be undermined, stated: the performance of the Ministry of Education and the Plan and Budget Organization must be transparently presented. By referring the question to the Parliament floor, the extent of the negligence by education officials will be clarified so it can be determined whether the Minister’s performance has been satisfactory. The Committee’s full effort is to ensure that part-time teachers can transition to fixed-term contracts, and we hope a positive outcome will ultimately be achieved.
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