A Government Official: 50,000 Complaints are Registered Annually in Education

The Director General of Performance Evaluation and Complaint Response in the Ministry of Education has reported that over 50,000 complaints are registered annually within this governmental body. Seyyed Rahim Mirshah Valad stated in comments quoted by the Mehr News Agency from the Ministry's Information Center that more than 50% of these complaints are 'unfounded and based on a negative outlook.' This official did not provide further details on the matter. Last year, Mr. Mirshah Valad also reported 80,000 complaints registered in the years 2014 and 2015, mentioning that nearly 2,000 complaints were regarding student punishment. He added that 1,274 complaints were deemed 'valid' and 650 'invalid.' Although corporal punishment of students is prohibited by education laws, images of physical punishment in Iranian schools occasionally circulate on social media and mobile phones. In recent months, several cases of corporal punishment have been reported, even reaching the Iranian Parliament. In November, a teacher at a vocational school in Shiraz struck a student in the chest with a fist, leading to the student's hospitalization due to severe chest pain. The reason for this punishment was reported as the student's tardiness in entering the classroom after the teacher. Additionally, in December, a video titled 'Corporal Punishment of High School Students in Line' was published on social media, showing a school official lining up several students in the schoolyard and hitting them one by one with a belt. The video indicated that none of the school's educational staff intervened to stop the beating. The case is still under investigation to identify the culprit. Two weeks ago, images of students being punished by a teacher in a school in Qayen were also shared on social media, with students claiming they were punished due to a drop in their grades. In this context, the issue of student beatings has drawn attention from experts, and the punishment of the Qayeni student has been brought to the Education Commission of the Parliament. The Education Department of Laristan is following up on a report of a student being beaten. The 'offending teacher in the Shiraz corporal punishment case' has been referred to the Administrative Violations Committee. The head of the Education Department in Khodabandeh denied reports of a rural student being beaten. Nearly 2,000 complaints regarding student punishment were registered in the years 2014 and 2015.