Start of the School Year in Underprivileged Areas; Classes Without Desks and Benches Host Students

While the Minister of Education recently claimed that special programs have been implemented to address the "deprivation" of students in underprivileged areas, students in the "Loudab" district of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad began the new school year in schools lacking "desks and benches, plumbing, heating systems, and safety measures." According to statistics provided by Kourosh Biniaz, the district governor of Loudab, 35 schools in this district lack piped sanitation facilities, and 45 schools have "no heating or safety equipment." He mentioned that there are 10 "tent schools" in this province, and out of a total of 145 schools, only two are equipped with computer equipment and "printers." The district governor told the ILNA news agency that many schools in this city lack asphalt, teachers' desks, whiteboards, and student desks and chairs. According to this local official, last year the "Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps" promised that through the "Construction Headquarters" they would resolve the issues of schools in this district, which has not yet been implemented. The newspaper "Shargh" reported on Wednesday, September 20, that at least 900,000 students have been excluded from the school year over a seven-year period due to "poverty" and "lack of educational facilities." The Research Center of the Islamic Consultative Assembly also reported that the provinces of Sistan and Baluchestan, Khorasan Razavi, Tehran, Khuzestan, and West Azerbaijan have the highest prevalence of school dropouts. Previously, the Ministry of Education of the Islamic Republic estimated that only about 12% of students in Iran have access to new educational tools such as "mobile phones and tablets." These reports come at a time when the highest-ranking official in the Ministry of Education, Reza Morad Sahraei, recently stated that starting from October 1, students from underprivileged areas who will attend "gifted schools" will have their education free of charge. He also made other promises, including distributing milk twice a week for elementary students, providing school supplies for students in underprivileged areas, and bringing back more than 200,000 out-of-school students. In addition to lacking educational facilities and equipment, many schools in Iran also lack the necessary structural integrity and need to be demolished and rebuilt. The head of the Organization for Renovation, Development, and Equipment of Schools in Iran recently stated that 30% of Iran's 104,000 classrooms need demolition, reconstruction, renovation, or reinforcement. Alireza Zakani, the current mayor of Tehran, mentioned last November that earthquakes, storms, floods, and land subsidence in Tehran are the four main problems in the capital of Iran, stating: "If we publish the list of unsafe buildings in Tehran, no one would remain in the city." Kamran Abdoli, the deputy for fire protection and prevention at the Tehran Fire Department, also reported last April that 79% of incidents in Tehran's schools are due to "dilapidation" and that 50% of fires in educational centers in Tehran are caused by "safety issues in electrical and gas installations." While the safety of schools is a nationwide problem in Iran, over the past few decades, the Islamic Republic has focused its policy-making and budgetary efforts on changing content and injecting more ideological issues into textbooks and the country's educational system. The reopening of schools in Iran follows a year in which students were poisoned, detained, and beaten. Several schools in Tehran and Isfahan were evacuated due to "land subsidence." Raisi, a few days after the suicide of two teachers due to poverty, stated that the issue of teachers' livelihoods is "only one of the issues of concern." Three teachers' organizations criticized the "crisis of justice, legitimacy, and quality" in Iran's educational system.