Ministry of Education Official: Average Score of 10 for Students is Not 'Critical'

The head of the Evaluation Center of the Ministry of Education of the Islamic Republic of Iran believes that an average score of 10 for students does not indicate a critical situation. According to 'Khabar Online', Mohsen Zarei stated that 'an average score of 10 means that 50% of the curriculum goals have been achieved. This average does not indicate a critical situation. Since our ceiling of expectation is a score of 20, it can be said that the goals have not been fully achieved.' These claims come at a time when the decline in the academic level of students and their lack of learning in the Iranian educational system has made headlines in recent months, with experts deeming the drop in the average high school GPA to 10 as a 'collapse of the education system.' In response to the claims of this official from the Ministry of Education, an education expert told Khabar Online: 'When the average score of a subject or field is low at the national level, around 10 to 11, it means disaster; it means students do not have sufficient literacy.' Forough Timourian added: 'Today's students are unmotivated to study because they do not see a good future for educated individuals in the country.' She emphasized that the low average score is due to many factors within the education system, such as 'the quality of teaching in the classroom, the difficulty of textbook material, inappropriate exam questions, and the lack of subject-related teachers for instruction,' which have contributed to the decline in this average. Reports indicate that the collapse of the education system in Iran has intensified in recent years, with the Tasnim news agency reporting on October 7 of this year that the average score of final-year high school students in various fields in the final exams of Khordad 1403 was 10.98 in mathematics, experimental sciences, and humanities. This news agency, affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, reported that the average score in the 11th grade was 10.62 and in the 10th grade was 11.59, stating that these conditions 'indicate a catastrophic level and quality of education in schools across the country.' In this context, the Deputy Minister of Primary Education stated in November of this year that 40% of children entering school suffer from 'learning poverty.' Rezvan Hakimzadeh pointed out that the educational system is also facing the concept of 'learning dropouts,' and that students present in schools do not acquire basic skills with satisfactory quality. She emphasized that there is no significant difference between learning poverty and dropouts in terms of learning. Previously, activists and teachers' unions had repeatedly criticized the policies of the Ministry of Education. The Statistical Center of Iran: The number of dropouts has reached nearly one million. A media report on the increase in poverty and employment among high school students. Students from deprived areas are victims of the 'entrance exam resolution' of the Supreme Cultural Revolution Council. The student density in classrooms in Tehran has reached 48; a classroom shortage crisis. The Deputy Minister of Education: 40% of children suffer from learning poverty.