Diwaniyah: The educational, teaching, and administrative staff in the Diwaniyah Education Department continued their strike for the fifth consecutive day in Clock Square in front of the local government building. They are demanding salary increases, the allocation of residential land, and the doubling of services in villages and rural areas. They also reject recent decisions by the central government.

According to National Iraqi News Agency, the Council of Ministers hosted the head of the Teachers’ Syndicate, Uday al-Issawi, on Tuesday, April 8, and issued a package of decisions related to educational and teaching staff and Ministry of Education employees. These decisions include proceeding with the procedures for distributing land plots to educational and teaching staff in Baghdad and the governorates, and forming a higher committee to implement the Prime Minister’s letter approving the establishment of residential neighborhoods for educational and teaching staff and Ministry of Education employees in Baghdad and the governorates, with the involvement of the Teachers’ Syndicate in Baghdad and the governorates.

Among the decisions, the Ministry of Finance will pay transportation fees to educational supervisors, allocated within the budget of each education directorate affiliated with the ministry, and the Ministry of Education will disburse an amount of 100,000 dinars to run school administrations for each semester, in addition to activating all provisions of the Teacher Protection Law (8 of 2018).

Following this, the Teachers’ Syndicate called for a sit-in inside schools, while the House of Representatives called for an emergency session to discuss the demands of the teaching staff.