New Claim by the Government of Pezeshkian; 750,000 Students Out of School in Iran

The Minister of Education in the Pezeshkian government reported that the number of students out of school is 750,000, stating that "about 150,000" are in the first primary education cycle, while the rest are in the first and second secondary education levels. Alireza Kazemi claimed that those out of school are not related to the education system and asserted that the dropouts in secondary education are those seeking work and skills. Kazemi also claimed that part of this number may relate to rural girls who have dropped out due to mixed-gender classes. Some experts believe that dropping out of school to enter the labor market has accelerated in recent years alongside rising inflation and intensifying poverty in the country. In this context, the newspaper Shargh reported on October 1st that "students consider dropping out and entering the labor market a win for themselves, viewing studying and the hours spent in class as a loss." The newspaper Khorasan also addressed this issue on August 2nd, stating that "the pain of livelihood and poverty are the main factors for dropping out of school." Additionally, regarding girls dropping out in impoverished areas and villages, social activists believe this issue is directly related to poverty and child marriage. In this regard, the newspaper Donya-e-Eqtesad published results of a study on "child marriage" on August 14th, stating that "in Iran, factors such as low per capita income, high inflation, and income inequality are among the main causes of early child marriage." This situation occurs while the education system suffers from a shortage of teachers, lack of sufficient classrooms, and the dilapidation of a significant portion of educational infrastructure. In this context, the Deputy Minister of Physical Education and Health reported a shortage of about 8,000 physical education teachers in the country. While these shortages and educational crises have intensified in recent years, officials of the Islamic Republic have focused on changing the content of textbooks. Changing textbook content and educational approaches in schools has been a concern of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic for years. Ali Khamenei has repeatedly shown sensitivity to the content of textbooks and called for a review of the educational materials. In May 2022, during a meeting with a group of teachers and educators from across the country, he stated that "useless content in textbooks should be removed." In November of last year, the Secretary of the Collaboration Headquarters of the Seminaries and Education Ministry stated in an interview with ISNA about hiring 3,000 male and female clerics as teachers that "the clerics collaborating with this ministry in the 'Amin' plan are completely 'spontaneous' and 'jihadist' and work in school educational affairs without receiving any financial assistance from the Ministry of Education." The Deputy Minister of Education: 40% of children suffer from learning poverty. Education provides schools with a "Quran-centered program approach" for curriculum approval. Media narratives about dropping out for daily bread; 1.6 million have dropped out of school. 10% of students in West Azerbaijan Province have dropped out; the number of dropouts in the country has reached 1.6 million according to the Ministry of Education; 216,000 children have dropped out of school.