Children Without Identity Documents 'Can Attend School in Iran'

After years of hundreds of thousands of Afghan migrant children in Iran being deprived of their right to education, the Deputy Minister of Primary Education announced on Thursday that all children without identity documents can enroll in school by obtaining a study card. Tasnim News Agency reported on Thursday (September 7) that Rezvan Hakimzadeh Abiyaneh made this statement during the inauguration of a school in Natanz while speaking to reporters. She added that children who have been unable to attend school due to a lack of identity documents can obtain a study card by visiting the local governor's offices. According to her, the issuance of study cards by the governor's office to applicants has been coordinated with the Ministry of Interior. The Iranian government has not recognized marriages between Iranian women and Afghan men since 2006; it also does not recognize the children of these marriages, referring to them as 'stateless and unregistered children.' These children and adolescents in Iran are deprived of the right to education, health insurance, and work, and they do not have the right to return to Iran after going to Afghanistan. The Deputy Minister of Primary Education stated on Thursday that this issue is currently 'being pursued seriously and has made acceptable progress in border areas, which continues.' On September 25, she also said that this summer, with the cooperation of the Ministry of Interior, 'an opportunity was created for children without identity documents to enroll in schools by receiving a support study card.' According to this education official, based on a resolution from the twelfth government, the Ministry of Interior 'was tasked with cooperating with the Ministry of Education to facilitate educational access for all children with identity document issues.' According to this resolution, 'all schools are required to enroll students by providing a support study card.' Hakimzadeh Abiyaneh also expressed ignorance about the number of unregistered children enrolled in schools so far, stating that 'the statistics have not yet been compiled... but we predict that the highest numbers will be related to border provinces that have special conditions and may have women marrying foreign nationals.' This news comes after a group of children's rights and minority rights activists called for the enrollment of Afghan children residing in Iran in schools ahead of the new school year. A Twitter storm was also initiated by users, primarily Iranian and Afghan residents in Iran, with the hashtag #ازمهرجانمانند, demanding that Afghan children have equal rights with other children. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ordered in 2015 that no Afghan child living in Iran, even illegally and without identification, should be deprived of education, and all of them must be enrolled in Iranian schools. The Ministry of Interior of Iran also announced three months after the start of this initiative, granting Afghan students aged 7 to 18 without legal residency documents the opportunity to apply for a study introduction letter that allows them to enroll in Iranian schools. Some Afghan children managed to enroll in school, but many were left without education. On September 5 of this year, the spokesperson for the Judicial and Legal Commission of the Islamic Consultative Assembly referred to the 'identity crisis and welfare problems' facing unregistered children, stating that the parliament intends to 'organize' nearly one million one hundred thousand unregistered children. According to Hassan Norouzi, these children, despite residing in Iran, suffer from 'frustration' due to their lack of citizenship, national identity, and identification documents, and 'naturally face fundamental problems in accessing welfare facilities, including educational, medical, and social services.'