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Provinces

Afghan Children Denied Education

June 25, 2015
OstanWire
2 min read
Afghan Children Denied Education

Twelve thousand Afghan schoolchildren are still unable to go to school in Fars Province, despite assurances from the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Khamenei, that each and every single one of them should have full and free access to education.

“Schools must enroll all Afghan children, even if their parents are illegal immigrants. No child should be deprived of education and they should all be able to go to school in Iran,” the Supreme Leader said on May 17, 2015.

The general secretary of the council for education, Mehdi Navid Adham, reiterated Ayatollah Khamenei’s order on May 26.

“All Ministry of Education offices across Iran are obliged to enroll every Afghan child in school. And nothing, including their IDs, should hinder this,” Adham said.

However, the Ministry of Education, which had previously backed up the Supreme Leader’s statement, recently stated that Afghan children will only be enrolled in school once the directive had been officially put in place.

“Despite the order from the Supreme Leader, the Ministry of Education’s provincial offices have yet to implement it,” Tasnim News Agency reported on May 31. “A month after the announcement, children are unable to register for the next school term in Iran, and the fate of Afghan schoolchildren remains unknown.”

“The enrolment procedure will take place in two to three weeks,” said Naser Qajari, the deputy minister at the Ministry of Education office in Fars. “Therefore, the education council should start looking into how to implement this straight away.”

“This means Afghan children will have to wait another month to know their fate,” Tasnim reported.

The Director of the UN High Commissary in Shiraz, Arjun Jin, said that enrolling Afghan children in schools will help the process of rebuilding Afghanistan.

“Afghanistan needs fresh, educated people. This will have a big influence on the future of the country. What’s more, it will strengthen cultural ties between Iran and Afghanistan.”

Until that happens though, tens of thousands of children are missing out on valuable education, which could prove very detrimental in the long term — both to themselves and their country.

 

Read the original article in Persian

 

Related articles:

Afghan Workers are Scapegoats For Iran’s Poor Economy

Deadly Crashes Claim Lives of Illegal Migrants

Afghan Media Visit Schools for Refugees in Tehran

 

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