The Kurdistan Region’s civil servants have long demanded a resolution to the ongoing unpaid salary crisis, as many have yet to be reimbursed for many months of work over the past decade. In Sulaimani and Halabja, the majority of schools have remained closed with teachers absent from classrooms for 52 school days.
“Our boycott will continue until our demands are met,” Adil Hassan, a representative of the striking teachers in Sulaimani, told Rudaw.
Farhad Qadir, a Halabja striking teachers representative, echoed Hassan’s remarks, saying “the boycott continues in most schools in our region.”
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has failed to pay the salaries of its civil servants on time and in full for a decade due to a financial crisis that worsened when its oil exports were halted in March 2023 following a court ruling on a dispute between Iraq and Turkey over the Kurdistan Region’s independent oil sales. The KRG now relies on domestic revenue and its controversial share of the federal budget.
The striking teachers’ foremost demand is the payment of salaries for the month of December, according to Karokh Abdullah, a representative of non-contract teachers.
To cover its payroll, the KRG is dependent on money from Baghdad, but the transfers of funds have not been regular, with each side blaming the other for delays and missed payments.
Abdulwahid Mohammed, deputy head of the Kurdistan Teachers Union, believes that the teachers would end their strike once December salaries are paid.
“While the teachers’ protests are ongoing in most schools, I believe that if the December salaries are distributed, they [the teachers] will return to the schools,” he said.
There is no boycott in Erbil and Duhok provinces and classes are operating as normal.
Teachers and civil servants in Sulaimani have gone on numerous strikes and staged protests several times over unpaid salaries.
Earlier in February, Baghdad and Erbil reached a new agreement regarding the payment of the Kurdistan Region’s share in the federal budget for the year 2025.
Soran Hussein contributed to this report.
