Lack of Educational Space; Nomadic Students Study in Containers and Tents, Baloch Children in Schoolyard

The head of the nomadic education department in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad announced that the lack of suitable educational space for over 400 nomadic students has forced them to study in dilapidated and non-standard classrooms at the middle and elementary levels. According to Iranian media, Ali Rahimi added that these nomadic students are studying in six schools consisting of 36 classes that are in the process of demolition. He noted that nearly half of the nomadic schools in this province, equivalent to 100 schools, are operating in containers and tents, and in the Zilayi and Jaleel areas of the province, the educational spaces of the schools are non-standard and in need of demolition and reconstruction. Furthermore, the Halvash website reported on the lack of suitable educational space for schools in Sistan and Baluchestan, stating that students at the Hametabad village school in Konarak lack the necessary building and classrooms. According to this report, there is only one class for first, second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth-grade students at this school, and students must study in the schoolyard without even a simple board, desk, or bench in temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius outdoors. The Etemad newspaper reported that in Iran, 18 million children are unable to complete their general education, and 10 million are completely illiterate. Additionally, over 80,000 students are in special schools and 23,000 children are in inclusive schools, but 33% of special needs children are not receiving education and more than 50% do not attend preschool. According to this report, the lack of a unified screening system and coordination among relevant institutions has exacerbated the problems, and the exact rate of educational coverage is unclear. While the lack of educational space and unsafe schools is a nationwide issue in Iran, over the past few decades, the Islamic Republic has focused its policymaking and budgetary efforts on changing content and injecting more ideological topics into textbooks and the educational system. The dropout of more than ten Baloch female students due to the lack of suitable educational space, a government official claimed that 85% of "street working children" in Tehran are foreign nationals, and the intervention of the security of Sharif University of Technology in the "affairs of life" of students; facial recognition cameras were installed in the girls' dormitory.