Over 152,000 Girl Students Dropped Out of School in Iran This Academic Year

The Deputy Minister of Education in Iran reports that over 150,000 girl students have dropped out of school this academic year, while a member of parliament predicts that the education sector will face a budget deficit of 20 trillion tomans by the end of the year. Abbas Soltanian, the Deputy Minister for Secondary Education, told ILNA news agency that 151,046 girls dropped out during the 2017-2018 academic year and that 'their details are not recorded anywhere and they are not considered students at all.' This official noted that the dropout rate among girls is 'significantly higher' than that of boys, but assessed the ministry's performance in attracting girls to education over the past few years as 'good.' According to Mr. Soltanian, about 4.29% of girl students dropped out two years ago, which decreased to 4.17% last year, indicating a 'twelve-hundredths percent increase in the enrollment of students nationwide.' He attributed the main reasons for girls dropping out to the long distances to schools from villages, cultural poverty in some provinces and border areas, early marriages, and inflexible educational methods and schedules. Official statistics show that the number of girl students aged 15 and 16 in Iran exceeds one million. Previously, Masoumeh Aghapour Alishahi, a member of the Women's Faction in Parliament, reported the existence of 24,000 widows under 18 in the country, stating that after Khorasan Razavi, East Azerbaijan ranks second in child marriage among children aged 10 to 15. According to statistics from the Civil Registration Organization, between 176 to 220 children under 10 were forced into marriage annually in Iran from 2011 to 2015. Meanwhile, a member of parliament has reported a budget deficit of 20 trillion tomans for the Ministry of Education. Seyyed Hamid Mirzadeh, spokesperson for the Education and Research Commission of Parliament, criticized the increase in the volume of 'arrears' in education during an interview with 'Khaneh Mellat,' the official website of the Islamic Consultative Assembly. He stated that this potential budget deficit arises at a time when the allocated budget for the Ministry of Education this year is 'more than 40 trillion tomans.' This parliamentarian attributed a significant portion of the education budget deficit to 'end-of-service bonuses and delayed salaries of substitute teachers.' Mr. Mirzadeh criticized that in recent years, parliament members have approved the budget knowing it would lead to a deficit. This budget deficit has been announced amid previous reports of the dilapidation of many school buildings in major cities and the lack of schools in rural areas. In recent years, many educators in Iran have repeatedly protested due to dissatisfaction with their salaries, facing police and security crackdowns from the Islamic Republic authorities.