Assault on Students; Possible Referral of Perpetrators to Court After Investigation

Following reports of the assault of several students in areas of Golestan, Sistan and Baluchestan, and Kerman provinces, several members of parliament have announced that they will investigate the matter and potentially refer 'offending' teachers to court. In this regard, Mohammad Mahdi Zahedi, a representative from Kerman and head of the Education and Research Commission of Parliament, has stated that representatives will soon be dispatched to Kerman, Sistan and Baluchestan, and Golestan provinces to investigate these reports, and if violations are confirmed, teachers will be referred to judicial authorities for prosecution. On Saturday, October 16, Mr. Zahedi told the website of the Parliament that the Education and Research Commission has assigned the task of investigating the matter to the 'Education Committee of Parliament.' He emphasized that the Education Commission is 'seriously pursuing violations occurring in schools in several cities of the country,' but reminded that 'the accuracy of these incidents must first be verified, and if confirmed, necessary actions will be taken.' Mr. Zahedi did not specify the exact timing of the dispatch of representatives from this commission and the Ministry of Education to the provinces of Sistan and Baluchestan, Kerman, and Golestan. Meanwhile, the Borna news agency quoted Mahmoud Sadeghi, a representative from Tehran in Parliament, stating that 'documents' regarding the incident of a student being beaten in the Bampoor area have been provided to parliamentarians, and they will 'pursue this violation.' Borna published Mr. Sadeghi's statements under the title 'New Dimensions of Investigating Violence in Rural Schools.' The news agency wrote that while in large cities 'school staff are not allowed to look at students with disdain, there are schools in the country where their officials severely punish students due to their inability to pay money or their lack of ability to learn lessons.' The local website 'Kalaleh Khabar' recently reported that a teacher in one of the schools in Kalaleh, Golestan province, on Tuesday, October 10, assaulted five students and used 'vulgar language' against them. According to this report, this teacher hit two students with 'slaps and punches' and inflicted 'blows to the waist' of another student by 'twisting his arm,' who later sought treatment after visiting the police station and a doctor. This website quoted one of the students as saying that two students fled the classroom while being beaten, and 'one of them fell down the stairs on the way and hit his head, but fortunately, no irreparable incident occurred.' In this regard, Mohammad Reza Sanchouli, the head of education in Kalaleh, promised that this matter would be 'seriously pursued,' but Ahmad Gholami-Moghadam, the school principal, stated that the families of two of these students had 'expressed satisfaction' after 'consultations' with them. According to Mr. Gholami, in order to 'resolve the issue within the school and bring it to an end,' a meeting was held with the presence of this teacher and 'some of the complaining families,' and it was decided that these families would go to the school on Saturday to 'give their consent.' However, Shahram Kouseh Gharavi, a representative from Minoodasht and Kalaleh in Parliament, stated that he has followed up on this incident through the education manager and the governor of the region, and a report of the actions taken by the education manager is expected to be announced. Prior to this incident, Iranian news agencies reported that on Sunday, October 8, Qaisar Ghaderi, a fifth-grade student in the village of 'Kheirabad' in Sistan and Baluchestan province, was beaten by his teacher and hospitalized in Iranshahr due to the severity of his injuries. Following this incident, the education manager of this region resigned, and the principal of this school was 'suspended.' In another incident, the Tabnak website also reported on Sunday, October 8, that the principal of the school in the village of 'Makhtarabad' in the 'Rudbar-e Jonub' county of Kerman province whipped some students of this school due to their parents' inability to pay 30,000 tomans and expelled them from school. However, the Kerman education department called these reports 'false, fabricated, and malicious.' Despite the prohibition of punishing children in schools in Iran, multiple reports have previously emerged regarding the punishment of some students and serious consequences for them, including hospitalization. On May 4, the local site 'Hanjas' reported the assault of a student at 'Namjou' school in the 'Oulad Qabad' district of this county, but the teacher of this school and education officials in the region denied these reports. Last December, the Iranian Minister of Education apologized for the physical punishment of several students in the city of Aligudarz in Lorestan province by their teacher and stated that the administrative violations department of the Ministry of Education had 'severely' dealt with this teacher. In this context, Mohammad Basteh Darazahi, a representative from Saravan in Parliament, criticized that 'despite the repeated assaults on students, no committee in the Ministry of Education has specifically investigated it.' He called on education officials to conduct a 'psychological investigation' into the issue of student assaults in schools and added, 'Unfortunately, we must accept that this incident occurs more than what has been published in the media.'