ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Iraqi finance ministry approved a recent decision from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to offer contracts to non-contracted teachers, a member of the Iraqi parliament said on Saturday. “Today, Finance Minister Taif Sami signed the decree to contract the Kurdistan Region’s non-contracted teachers,” MP Soran Omar told Rudaw’s Malik Mohammed. Last week, the KRG announced it would be offering contracts for all non-contracted educators, numbering around 38,000, financed from domestic revenues. The Iraqi finance ministry’s approval of the contracts means that the teachers will need to be accounted for in future federal budgets if Erbil hands its domestic revenue over to Baghdad. “This approval guarantees the salaries for those teachers and their names will be added to the Kurdistan Region’s payroll,” Omar said. Teachers working without a contract took part in strikes that delayed the start of the 2023-2024 academic year for over four months in Sulaimani and Halabja provinces, and in the Garmiyan, Raparin, and Koya administrations. Teachers went on strike over unpaid wages by the KRG. They demanded that the government pay their salaries on time, hand out promotions when due, and give contracts to those working without them. Lack of stable employment is one of the biggest obstacles facing people, especially the youth, in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, leading thousands to leave the country every year in search of better opportunities abroad, even risking illegal and hazardous routes.
