Teacher Shortage Crisis Causes Academic Decline for Students from Tehran to Disadvantaged Areas

An educational official stated that the "teacher shortage crisis" is one of the serious challenges facing the education system and has a direct impact on the quality of education across the country. According to the state news agency ISNA, Nader Karimi Biravand, the director of the General Office of Secondary Education at the Ministry of Education, said that "this issue is no longer limited to disadvantaged areas, and even provinces like Tehran are facing a severe shortage of teachers." He noted that despite hiring new teachers in the past two years, the increase in the number of students at the secondary level has made this shortage more pronounced, and addressing it remains one of the main problems of the education system. Karimi Biravand explained that this crisis affects students' academic performance, as in some schools, students do not have adequate access to capable teachers, negatively impacting their academic results. He emphasized that the average scores in final exams are not at a "desirable level," and educational issues, teacher shortages, and lack of adequate facilities in some schools are considered "factors contributing to academic decline." The director also referred to the issue of students dropping out of school, stating that some students cannot enter the "theoretical secondary education" due to not having completed primary or lower secondary education, which leads to their exit from the educational system. Another significant challenge is educational inequality in public schools. Karimi Biravand stressed that some of these schools "lack the necessary managerial support and funding to improve educational standards," resulting in a "quality gap between public and private schools." "Schools in disadvantaged and peripheral areas" continue to face "shortages of facilities and human resources." According to Karimi Biravand, many of these schools are in urgent need of attention but remain "lower priorities compared to other educational issues." The "educational space crisis" has even manifested in the capital, where the state news agency Tasnim previously reported that education officials emphasized the need for 695 15-classroom schools in the counties of Tehran province to prevent overcrowding in classrooms. Tasnim reported in November of this year that some classrooms in Tehran hold 40 to 50 students, which has led to a decline in the quality of education. The lack of financial resources for projects such as securing schools, building schools in disadvantaged areas, and meeting basic needs such as drinking water and sanitation in many areas of Iran is raised, while billions of dollars are annually spent by various institutions of the Islamic Republic, from ministries to municipalities and local organizations, on the ideological goals of the government, including events like the "Arbaeen" march or "Noor Path" camps. The halt of educational development under the pretext of budget constraints; the Ministry of Oil builds mosques; government deflection regarding overcrowding in Tehran schools; more than 8,000 classrooms in Tehran are not safe.