Only one month into the new school year, teachers in Iran have once again staged mass collective action. Rallies were held on two days, beginning on Oct. 5 — designated as World Teachers’ Day by UNESCO — when teachers demonstrated in front of the local offices of the Education Ministry across the country. Their demands include higher pay, improved pensions and health insurance, and more government support for the private sector.

Less than two weeks later, on Oct. 14, local and national teachers’ unions, under the umbrella organization called the Coordinating Council of Teachers Syndicates, decided to up the pressure. Widely shared on social media, this time teachers went to school but refrained from teaching, holding sit-ins and explaining their plight to children instead. Although it is hard to gauge total participation in the strike, many schools appeared to have been affected.

This is not the first time teachers in Iran have gone on strike. Since 2015, teachers’ unions have organized multiple rounds of demonstrations and rallies, sometimes involving absence from classes.

Beyond teachers, Iran has seen a sharp increase in the number of public rallies, strikes and demonstrations over the past three years. Unrest peaked this past December and January, when dozens of towns and cities were afflicted by several days of rioting and popular protests. However, the vast majority of protests have been staged in response to an array of specific economic and occupational demands. Inherently, such protests have remained largely fragmented, localized and uncoordinated.