790,000 Students in Iran Have Not Yet Registered for Schools

Iranian media reports that 790,000 students have not registered for classes ahead of the new school year. One day before the start of the new academic year, Tasnim News Agency reported on Saturday, September 31, citing an education official, that 890,000 students have not ordered their textbooks, and among them, only 100,000 have registered in schools. This statistic was provided by Mohammad Alavi-Tabar, the Deputy of the Educational Research and Planning Organization. The news agency described this situation as 'unprecedented,' noting that some regular public schools have prevented student registration due to 'poor grades' or 'lack of available capacity.' Tasnim previously reported that some parents have faced 'challenges created by certain public school principals' when trying to register their children in entry grades, namely first grade, seventh, and tenth. According to the Iranian Statistical Center, about 930,000 students dropped out of school last year. Meanwhile, based on the announcement of the Deputy of Secondary Education at the Ministry of Education, by September 18, only 87% of students in the tenth grade had registered, leaving '13% of them in limbo.' Tasnim reported that according to the Ministry of Education, the number of elementary school students in the new academic year is about 9.2 million, with around 3.8 million in the first secondary cycle and about 2.9 million in the second secondary cycle. The Resalat newspaper, close to the ruling faction, reported last September an increase of over 17% in out-of-school children and adolescents over six years. The Iranian Teachers Organization and the Cultural Teachers Association issued a statement at the beginning of last academic year, citing the increase in dropout rates in Iran as a result of widening class gaps, poverty, and injustice in the educational system.