Stats Show Regime Destroyed Iran’s Education and Future

Amir2018TaghatiSeptember 30, 2023
Stats Show Regime Destroyed Iran’s Education and Future
According to Article 30 of the Iranian regime’s Constitution,

Irans Education System village children
Written by
Mansoureh Galestan

According to Article 30 of the Iranian regime’s Constitution, “The government is obligated to provide free education up to the end of secondary school for all citizens and extend higher education facilities for free up to the country’s self-sufficiency limit.”

However, Iranian state officials have frequently discussed the necessity to amend the constitution, contending that certain clauses and articles do not align well with the regime’s objectives.

On July 12, 2021, the state-run newspaper Mostaghel argued, “One of the early revolutionary slogans by officials was the provision of certain facilities for free or at least reducing the costs of essential items and energy, mirroring the slogans of leftist and communist regimes. Consequently, these slogans and actions raised expectations among the people, assuming they would always have a share in the country, regardless of work and effort, needing compensation.”

Yet, in reality, the regime hasn’t followed through on the principle of free education without constitutional amendments. Currently, public schools charge a minimum of 1,500,000 Iranian tomans for enrollment.

Hossein Ali Haji Deligani, a member of the regime’s parliament, told a Tasnim reporter on September 4, “Now, in many schools, they forcefully take money for enrollment. While the law asks for free education, they are charging people up to 1,500,000 tomans.”

There are about 110,000 schools in Iran, and over 94,000 are considered public schools. President Ebrahim Raisi’s administration aims to transform 25% of these, approximately 23,500 schools, into charter schools by March 2024. These schools offer better services but charge tuition fees. The move officially suggests a shift away from free education.

According to Ahmad Mahmoudzadeh, the head of the Organization of Private and Non-Governmental Schools and Educational Centers, approved tuition fees for private schools in the 2024 academic year will range from 5 million to 48 million Iranian tomans.

Additionally, tuition fees in these schools can go up to one billion tomans per year, with extra services like foreign trips and specialized language instruction contributing to the higher costs. These schools, often located in affluent areas, are typically managed by former education department heads, making them susceptible to corruption and regime influence.

Luxury schools offer extensive services including sports and specialized classes, contributing to high costs due to additional amenities like meals, trips, and second language learning. Meanwhile, many Iranian children face challenges in underprivileged, overcrowded schools, lacking essentials, and enduring delays in emergency response due to inadequate facilities.

Cost of Education in Iran:
In 2023, stationery prices increased by an average of 60% compared to the previous year due to inflation, causing many stores to close or change their business focus, as reported by Tejarat News. Mousa Farzanian, the head of the Stationery Sellers Union, highlighted the unexpected severity of the situation, stating that families’ purchasing power has significantly weakened, making even basic items like a 24-color pencil box or watercolors a luxury. Additionally, the price hikes are even higher than the 50-60% reported by authorities; for instance, a standard backpack’s price has surged over 3 times, reaching 800,000 tomans from its previous price of 250,000 tomans.

Rising costs have pushed many Iranian students into the challenging job market instead of classrooms. The regime’s policies have worsened class disparities, particularly in education, causing psychological strain on children and making families unable to afford schooling. In the 2021-2022 academic year, over 2 million students either dropped out or were unable to attend, highlighting the issue of educational exclusion. Additionally, in the previous year, 3 million students had already dropped out. The impact of poverty is a significant factor contributing to educational exclusion.

Higher education jeopardized
More than 90% of top-ranked students in the university entrance exam (called Konkur in Iran), go to private schools. When examining the institutions where these top-ranked students studied, only 5% come from public schools, while 23% come from non-profit private schools, and 64% come from SAMT (Organization for Development of Exceptional Talents) schools.

According to former Minister of Education Ali Asghar Fani, around 1.7 million students study in non-profit private schools and 13 million students study in public schools across the country. It is not unfounded that, according to estimates from state-controlled media, more than 80% of the top-ranking students in Iran leave the country for higher education.

 

Comparison of Education
Comparing Iran’s education and upbringing with 13 neighboring countries shows lower quality education indicators. Iran’s education budget for the current year is about 207 trillion tomans, just 3.9% of the total budget, notably 22% less than the previous year. To put it in perspective, the Ministry of Education’s annual budget is roughly $4.44 billion, while other countries allocate significantly more: Japan $260 billion, the USA $270 billion, the UK $128.7 billion, Saudi Arabia $50.4 billion, and Turkey $23.7 billion for education.

The “student per capita” figure is calculated by dividing the Ministry of Education’s budget by the number of students. In Iran’s 1402 budget (March 2023-March 2024), the student per capita is approximately $338 per year or around 17 million tomans. This amount is insufficient even for teacher salaries, let alone meeting students’ needs. Comparatively, the student per capita in various countries is as follows:

Japan: $16,326 (nearly 50 times that of Iran)
United States: $12,000
Sweden: $11,200
France: $10,500
South Korea: $7,000
Turkey: $1,800
World average student per capita: $9,313, approximately 30 times that of Iran.

These policies have resulted in millions of illiterate Iranians. According to Yousef Nouri, a former Minister of Education, the regime’s official stats indicate 8,795,000 illiterate individuals in the country, or nearly 9 million people, signifying over 10% of Iran’s population. However, the true numbers are likely higher. Nouri also noted that 160,373 children are not enrolled in primary education, a rise from 136,000 in 2016. The state-run newspaper Arman Melli emphasized a more alarming figure: besides the 9 million illiterate individuals, there are around 20 million undereducated individuals who left school before completing twelve years of education.

On a global scale, countries invest approximately 5% of their GDP in education, proving to be a highly profitable economic endeavor. Each year of education boosts an individual’s income by 10%, making education the most lucrative investment for a nation and its economy. Education’s impact extends beyond economics, reshaping values and perspectives, and directly influencing the economic landscape.

Effective education results in enhanced skills, particularly technical prowess, significantly contributing to productivity and economic growth. It empowers individuals in various ways, facilitating social connections crucial for collective efforts, and essential for today’s economic advancement.

However, the regime in Iran prioritizes deception, security concerns, and self-preservation, overlooking the true value of education. For the regime, schools and education are merely viewed as profit opportunities.

As a result, the regime takes drastic measures, such as selling school properties under the guise of privatization. Additionally, a concerning 30% of the country’s 100,000 schools are deteriorating, highlighting a negligence of safety measures.

Given that knowledge is a bedrock for challenging tyranny, educators, students, and the education system itself pose a potential security risk to the ruling establishment. As the regime disproportionately allocates resources to its security apparatus, neglecting the country’s education system, this strategy is inadvertently educating the new generations about the need for resistance and revolt.

Amir2018TaghatiSeptember 30, 2023
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