Tehran Among the Five Poorest Cities in Iran in Terms of Educational Space

The director general of education in Tehran says that 700 schools in the city need to be demolished and rebuilt, with 100 of them evacuated due to safety concerns. He also introduced Tehran as one of the five 'poorest cities in Iran in terms of educational space' and cited mismanagement as an example, stating: 'For instance, in District 22 of Tehran, many towers have been built, but no educational space has been planned, and 70% of the land has been taken by the municipality for services, but no land has been given to us for school construction.' The news was published by Tasnim News Agency on Saturday (October 28) quoting Abbasali Bagheri, noting that these 700 schools in Tehran are over 40 years old. The director added that '600 schools, although not meeting the necessary standards and safety according to experts, are still operational.' Bagheri further mentioned that schools in Tehran that are 20 or 25 years old need to be reinforced, and 'since 2005, 3,479 classrooms have been reinforced.' He added that nearly '6,846 classrooms, which include 1,000 schools, need reinforcement.' According to the director general, in the dilapidated areas of the city, 225 schools have been demolished and rebuilt over the past 10 years. He also stated that the average classroom size in Tehran is 32 students, yet 34% of classrooms have between 33 to 37 students. As reported by this official, there are also classrooms with more than 37 students, which are 'beyond standard.' He added, 'If we want to provide schools for classes that exceed the standard number of students, we are short of about 600 schools in Tehran.' Bagheri provided these statistics while stating that 'we are witnessing a growth in student population, and by 2025, we will need 900 schools in Tehran.' He cited financial reasons as the main cause of the slow renovation process of schools in Tehran, stating, 'To build a 10-classroom school, 2 billion tomans in funding is needed, and if we want to solve all the problems, we need 5 trillion tomans, and to exit the crisis and ensure student safety, we need 2 to 3 trillion tomans in funding.' The director general of education in Tehran identified the city as one of the five 'poorest in terms of educational space' and added that 'the participation of benefactors in school construction is less than 50%.' In February 2017, the director general of education in the counties of Tehran province also stated that 30% of schools and educational spaces in the province need demolition and reconstruction. Abdolreza Fooladvand identified the dilapidated state of educational spaces as one of the most important problems in education and stated that there is not enough budget for renovating educational facilities. The Ministry of Education is the most costly ministry of the government. This ministry received the highest budget among 18 ministries in the budget bill for 2016, with 28,540 billion tomans, which was a 21% increase compared to 2015. In the budget bill for 2017, 31,681 billion tomans were allocated to the Ministry of Education, of which only 814 billion tomans were allocated to the Organization for Renovation, Development, and Equipment of Schools. Meanwhile, it has been stated that due to the large number of employees in this ministry and current expenses, it does not have the capacity to renovate and secure schools. According to education officials, with the current budgets, it will take decades to renovate schools in Iran.