Iranian teachers have started a nationwide strike to demand higher salaries and release of their colleagues who were arrested during previous protests.

According to the Coordination Council of Iranian Teachers’ Trade Associations, the strike, which started on Saturday will last for two days and will be followed by a protest rallies.

This week’s demonstration is scheduled for Monday, while the teachers have announced they will stage another strike and protest in about two weeks too.

In the previous rounds of rallies, the teachers gathered in front of the parliament building in Tehran and the provincial offices of the education ministry to protest the parliament’s adoption of a discriminatory ranking plan.

Also on Saturday, Iranian nurses held protests in many cities across the country to protest higher pay and long-term contracts.

Workers and employees from various economic sectors hold regular protest rallies or strikes to demand better working conditions and salaries.

Earlier in January, hundreds of firefighters and staff members from Iran’s hardliner judiciary department took to the streets in several cities, in what was an unprecedented development. Even prison guards have picketed to protest their low salaries.

Food prices have risen by more than 60 percent in recent months, on top of high inflation in the previous three years, while the government is unable to sufficiently boost wages