A Report Marking 5 October, World Teachers’ Day
Livelihood Crisis, Declining Purchasing Power and Employment Insecurity
Every year, 5 October is observed as World Teachers’ Day. Since 1994, the day has marked the anniversary of the adoption of the joint UNESCO/International Labour Organization Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers. The Recommendation emphasises teachers’ professional rights, fair conditions of employment and work, job security and social status.
In Iran, teachers have entered the new school year amid severe livelihood pressures, declining purchasing power, unpaid entitlements, problems with insurance and healthcare, and employment insecurity. Alongside these economic pressures, restrictions on trade-union activity and security and judicial measures against protesting teachers have continued. These issues will be examined separately in the second part of this report.
This first part focuses on teachers’ economic and employment conditions, which affect not only their income but also their right to an adequate standard of living, fair working conditions and job security, and ultimately students’ right to continuous, quality education.
Teachers’ Livelihoods: Income That Does Not Cover the Cost of Living
Estimates published in Iran in 2026 indicate that around 70 per cent of the population earns less than the amount required to meet minimum living costs. During the same period, the monthly cost of living for an average household was estimated at around 90 million tomans. A report published on 24 August 2026 estimated the minimum cost of living for an average household of 3.3 people at the end of July at approximately 90 million tomans per month. (One toman is equivalent to 10 Iranian rials.)
Teachers live under the same economic conditions. According to the spokesperson for the Ministry of Education and reports published by official media, the lowest reported monthly pay for education personnel in 2026 was approximately 26 million tomans. Even for a teacher with more than 25 years of service, a doctorate and the highest level under Iran’s professional teacher-ranking scheme, reported monthly pay was around 46 million tomans.
Accordingly, an income of 26 million tomans covers less than one third of the estimated cost of living for an average household, while even the salary of a highly experienced teacher at the highest professional rank covers only about half of that amount.
For a teacher expected to meet housing, food, healthcare, transport and other family expenses from this income, the gap directly affects the right to an adequate standard of living and economic security.
The Gap with Teachers’ Incomes in Other Countries
The scale of this gap becomes clearer when compared with the position of the teaching profession in other countries.
According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report Education at a Glance 2026, the average annual salary of a teacher with around 15 years of experience, adjusted for purchasing power, ranges across member countries from approximately USD 60,000 in pre-primary education to nearly USD 69,000 in upper-secondary education. For primary-school teachers with the same length of service, the average annual salary is about USD 64,000.
In some countries, the purchasing-power-adjusted annual salary of a primary-school teacher with 15 years of experience is approximately USD 85,000 in Australia, USD 80,000 in Austria and USD 84,000 in Canada. In Chile, the corresponding figure is reported at around USD 50,000.
Iran is not included in the OECD dataset, and a direct dollar-for-dollar comparison would therefore be unreliable. The underlying difference is nevertheless clear: in the OECD countries examined, a teacher’s income is treated as the salary of a full-time skilled professional, whereas in Iran even the reported pay of a highly experienced teacher at the highest professional rank falls below domestic estimates of the cost of living for an average household.
Official Figures: Pay Increases Below the Rise in Living Costs
Official Iranian data also indicate a decline in teachers’ purchasing power.
The Ministry of Education has stated that teachers’ salaries increased by an average of 20 per cent in 2026 and that, when certain benefits are included, the increase in total pay approached 30 per cent.
However, according to the Statistical Center of Iran, annual inflation reached 69.9 per cent in August 2026, while prices were 89 per cent higher than in the corresponding month of the previous year.
In September 2026, Tasnim also reported that the monthly cost of a household livelihood basket had exceeded 80 million tomans; another estimate during the same period placed the figure at around 90 million tomans.
Consequently, increases in teachers’ pay have not kept pace with the rise in living costs, and the gap between income and basic household needs has continued to widen.
The Teacher-Ranking Scheme and Unpaid Entitlements
Low pay is not the only problem facing teachers. Delays in the payment of entitlements and the implementation of the teacher-ranking scheme — a system that assigns teachers professional ranks linked to pay and benefits — have become major sources of dissatisfaction in recent years.
On 23 April 2026, Alireza Kazemi, Minister of Education, stated that new ranking decisions had been issued for around 200,000 teachers and that the resulting pay differentials had been paid. He also said that dozens of categories of payments, including additional teaching pay and some outstanding entitlements, had been made on time. Official statements several months later, however, indicated that some entitlements remained unpaid.
In September of the same year, the Ministry of Education announced that funding had been secured for ranking-related entitlements owed to retirees from previous years and for payments to individuals who had been omitted from earlier stages of the scheme. These statements indicate that some education personnel experienced lengthy delays in receiving their full statutory pay and benefits.
For a teacher or retiree whose income is already far below the cost of living, delayed payments can make it more difficult for a family to meet housing, healthcare and other essential needs.
Protests over Living Conditions
These economic pressures repeatedly led teachers and retirees to hold gatherings in 2026.
On 6 September 2026, a group of teachers gathered outside the Plan and Budget Organization in Tehran, calling for salaries to be increased in line with the actual cost of living and inflation, full implementation of the teacher-ranking scheme, immediate payment of outstanding entitlements, and improved insurance and healthcare services.
On the same day, retirees and education personnel also gathered in Tehran and in several cities in Khuzestan Province, including Ahvaz, Shush, Haft Tappeh and Karkheh. Declining purchasing power, high healthcare costs and unpaid entitlements were among their principal concerns.
During these gatherings, protesters chanted slogans including:
“Our salaries are in rials, our expenses are in dollars”, “Enough promises; our tables are empty.”
These slogans directly reflected the impact of rising prices on the daily lives of education personnel.
The continuation of these protests indicates that teachers’ livelihood crisis is not merely a dispute over salary levels, but concerns their ability to meet basic needs and maintain economic security.
Staff Shortages and Reliance on Temporary Personnel
Livelihood problems persist while Iran’s education system is simultaneously facing difficulties in securing sufficient personnel.
In September 2026, the Ministry of Education stated that it had received authorisation to recruit around 17,000 primary teachers, secondary teachers and vocational instructors, but that the recruitment examination was not held. To cover classes, the Ministry relied on serving teachers, retirees and approximately 20,000 to 21,000 freelance hourly-paid teachers.
Figures from the previous year also indicate that reliance on retirees has not been temporary. The Minister of Education had stated that around 60,000 teachers retire each year and that nearly 40,000 of them return to schools to continue working.
Part of schools’ staffing needs is therefore met through overtime by serving teachers, continued service by retirees and the use of hourly-paid personnel, rather than through stable recruitment of new staff.
Hourly-Paid Teachers: Work Without Income Stability
In 2026, education officials stated that the average rate for additional teaching by serving and retired teachers was approximately 180,000 to 200,000 tomans per teaching hour. Their income depends on the number of hours allocated to them and on when the corresponding payments are made.
No consolidated public data have been published on the average monthly earnings of the approximately 20,000 to 21,000 freelance hourly-paid teachers used to cover classes. Similar information gaps exist for some contract personnel, outsourced education-service workers and pre-primary instructors.
These personnel perform part of the core work of the public education system, but they do not necessarily enjoy employment and income stability comparable to that of formally employed teachers.
Teachers’ Livelihoods as a Human Rights Issue
The joint UNESCO/ILO Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers states that teachers’ remuneration should reflect the importance of the teaching function to society and the responsibilities involved, compare favourably with salaries paid in other occupations requiring similar qualifications, and provide teachers and their families with a reasonable standard of living. It also emphasises security of tenure, social protection and the participation of teachers’ organisations in determining working conditions and remuneration.
In Iran, the gap between teachers’ pay and the cost of living, outstanding entitlements, schools’ reliance on thousands of hourly-paid teachers and retirees, and repeated protests by education personnel show that the livelihood crisis extends beyond a question of wages alone.
This situation places pressure on teachers’ rights to fair working conditions, job security and an adequate standard of living. At the same time, instability in school staffing may affect the education system’s capacity to guarantee continuous, quality education for students.
Conclusion
On the eve of World Teachers’ Day, figures published inside Iran present a clear picture: reported income for many teachers covers only part of the actual cost of household living; pay increases have lagged behind price rises; some education personnel continue to receive entitlements only after delays; and the education system relies on thousands of hourly-paid teachers and retirees to meet its staffing needs.
Gatherings by teachers and retirees in Tehran and other cities also show that adequate pay, insurance and healthcare, payment of outstanding entitlements, and economic security remain central demands among education personnel.
Poverty is not, however, the only pressure facing teachers in Iran. For a number of teachers, trade-union activity, peaceful protest and even the expression of critical views have been followed by summonses, arrest, imprisonment, dismissal and other employment-related sanctions. The second part of this report will examine the repression of teachers, the situation of imprisoned teachers, pressures on women teachers, and political and ideological restrictions within Iran’s education system.
