1.6 Million Students Drop Out of School Due to Economic Problems
Media in Iran are reporting widespread school dropout rates, especially among boys, due to economic hardships. Many students leave school and enter the job market because of a lack of future prospects after completing their education.
On Sunday, September 22, Shargh newspaper, in a report coinciding with the reopening of schools in Iran, wrote: “Education has lost its economic value. Ten or twenty years ago, education was the best way to advance and move up the social ladder, but now, higher education no longer provides such upward mobility.”
The newspaper added, “Students consider dropping out and entering the job market a victory for themselves, while they view attending classes as a loss.”
Afshar Kabiri, Director-General of Social and Cultural Affairs of the West Azerbaijan Governorate, stated on September 15 that with a 10% dropout rate, West Azerbaijan is the second-highest province in the country in terms of school dropouts. He said, “We do not have a good situation in terms of dropout statistics, as the number of students who have dropped out has increased from 776,000 in 2016 to 1,662,000.”
A review of the published statistics in this area appears concerning, as data from the Statistical Center of Iran shows that nearly one million students dropped out of school last year, with economic issues being the main reason.
In this regard, the regime’s Majlis (parliament) Research Center reported in August 2024 that policies aimed at reducing and eventually eliminating dropout rates have not been effectively implemented.
On August 1, Khorasan newspaper published a report emphasizing that finding the reasons behind student dropouts is not difficult or complicated.
Khorasan pointed out, “The pain of poverty and livelihood issues are the most significant factors driving students to drop out.”
The Majlis Research Center confirmed this, stating, “Households in the lower income deciles, without insurance, in poverty, or lacking a stable income, are more prone to having children drop out of school.”
The trend of dropping out of school has intensified in recent years, primarily due to inflation, which has exceeded 40% in recent years. In 2022, the Majlis Research Center reported that “the number of students who dropped out of school during the 2021-2022 school year reached over 911,000.”
At the time, Donya-e-Eqtesad newspaper wrote, “Comparing this figure with the number of dropouts in the past six years shows a 17% increase.”
According to Donya-e-Eqtesad, “Economic problems are one of the main factors, and it can be said that the expansion of poverty has played a significant role in depriving Iranians of education.”
790,000 Iranian Students Not Yet Enrolled in Schools
State-run media in Iran, on the verge of the new school year, report that “790,000 students” have not yet registered to attend classes.
One day before the new school year, on Saturday, September 21, the state-run Tasnim news agency quoted an education official stating that 890,000 students have not yet ordered their textbooks, and of these, only 100,000 have enrolled in schools.
This figure was provided by Mohammad Alavi-Tabar, the Deputy Head of the Educational Research and Planning Organization.
The news agency described this situation as “unprecedented” and reported that some regular public schools have refused to enroll students due to “poor grades” or “lack of available capacity.”
Previously, Tasnim had reported that some parents faced “difficulties created by certain public school administrators” when enrolling their children in entry-level grades—first, seventh, and tenth grades.
Meanwhile, according to the Deputy Minister of Secondary Education, as of September 8, only 87% of students had enrolled in the tenth grade, with “13% remaining unregistered.”
According to Tasnim, citing Ministry of Education statistics, the number of students in the new academic year is around 9.2 million in elementary school, 3.8 million in lower secondary school, and 2.9 million in upper secondary school.
Resalat newspaper, which is close to the ruling faction, reported last September that the number of out-of-school children and adolescents had increased by more than 17% over six years.
The Iranian Teachers’ Organization and the Cultural Association, in a statement at the start of the previous academic year, attributed the rise in dropout rates to the widening class gap, poverty, and inequality in the education system.
177-Year Wait for Tehran Residents to Buy a Home If Prices Stay Stable for 200 Years
The housing crisis in Iran has manifested as substandard housing and housing poverty in Tehran. Media reports indicate a 17% increase in prices in August, with the average housing price surpassing 880 million rials (approximately $1,466), and an estimated 177-year wait to purchase a home, assuming prices remain stable for the next two centuries.
On September 20, the state-run Tasnim News Agency reported: “While the average annual income for urban households has reached 2.56 billion rials (approximately $4,267), Tehran households can expect to become homeowners after 177 years if they save part of this income.”
Tasnim emphasized that the average housing price in Tehran has reached 885 million rials, and given this price, the wait for a Tehran household to purchase a 100-square-meter unit is about 177 years, assuming housing prices remain unchanged for the next two centuries.
The state-run ISNA news agency also reviewed housing prices in the Iranian capital, noting that District 18, with an average price of 420 million rials (approximately $700) per square meter, is the cheapest area in Tehran’s housing market.
ISNA added that District 1, with an average price of 1.79 billion rials (approximately $2,983) per square meter, is the most expensive area in the capital, with a 33% price increase over the past year.
The news agency added that in August of this year, the average price per square meter of housing in Tehran was 885 million rials, showing a 16.8% increase compared to the previous year and a 1.2% rise from the previous month.
According to some experts, over the past decade, housing has been on the path to becoming a major crisis for households.
In recent years, government promises to solve the housing problem have also gone unfulfilled.
During his election campaign and after assuming office, former regime president Ebrahim Raisi had promised to build one million homes a year. However, more than three years into his administration, and following his death, no significant progress has been made in this regard, and concerns about the continuation of the current trend persist under Massoud Pezeshkian’s government.
Political Prisoner Mohammad Javad Vafaei Thani Sentenced to Death for Third Time
Reports from Mashhad indicate that political prisoner Mohammad Javad Vafaei Thani has been sentenced to death for the third time. This political prisoner, a supporter of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), the country’s largest opposition group, is also one of Iran’s boxing champions. Iran’s judiciary has sentenced Mohammad Javad Vafaei Thani to death for the third time due to his support for the PMOI.
Mohammad Javad, 29 years old, a champion and boxing coach at clubs in Mashhad, was arrested in March 2020 in Mashhad and subjected to severe physical and psychological torture. In January 2022, the fourth branch of the Mashhad Revolutionary Court sentenced him to death on charges of “corruption on earth, arson, and destruction of specific buildings, including the government’s Disciplinary Organization building.”
This sentence was referred to the second branch of the Mashhad Revolutionary Court by a branch of the Supreme Court in December 2022. In August 2023, this court sentenced Mohammad Javad to death for the second time. In June 2024, the Supreme Court referred the case to another court. On Wednesday, September 18, 2024, for the third time, two judges named Saadi Makan and Yazdan Khahar issued the death sentence, which was conveyed to Mohammad Javad in written form. This ruling was issued even though the regime’s judiciary laws were ignored in the process.
Earlier this week, the 26th branch of the Tehran Revolutionary Court sentenced two PMOI supporters, Behrooz Ehsani and Mehdi Hassani, to death.
In an effort to suppress growing public outrage and in fear of the increasing youth support for the PMOI and resistance, the Iranian regime sees torture and execution as the only solution. The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) on the UN High Commissioner, the Human Rights Council, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran, the international fact-finding committee, the European Union, and its member states to take immediate action to free political prisoners and save the lives of Mohammad Javad Vafaei Thani, Behrooz Ehsani, Mehdi Hassani, and other prisoners facing execution.
The Central Bank of Iran: Economic Growth Has Halved This Spring
In its latest report, the Central Bank of Iran states that the country’s economic growth in the spring was 3.2%, nearly half of the 2023 spring growth rate.
According to the Central Bank, the country’s economic growth in the spring of last year was 5.7%.
This sharp decline in economic growth is mainly attributed to the halving of the value-added from the oil sector, which was 16.5% in the spring of last year and about 9.5% this year.
Previously, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) along with the World Bank had predicted that Iran’s economic growth rate would slow significantly this year and continue to decline next year.
According to IMF estimates, Iran’s economic growth was 4.7% last year, but is expected to drop to 3.3% this year and 3.1% next year.
The relatively strong economic growth in Iran last year was due to a significant increase in oil production and exports, as well as a surge in government spending. Neither of these factors, however, has a direct impact on the welfare of the people or the prosperity of the market and industries.
On the other hand, OPEC data shows that Iran’s oil production growth has nearly stalled since mid-spring, meaning that the oil sector’s added value is expected to decrease significantly this summer compared to the same period last year.
The 12th and 13th Iranian administrations had set an 8% growth target in the Sixth Development Plan, which was not achieved. The Seventh Plan, which will be implemented for five years starting this year, once again emphasizes the need for 8% economic growth.
On August 31, Iranian regime President Masoud Pezeshkian announced that reaching an 8% economic growth rate would require $200 billion in investments.
Pezeshkian said, “The total money we have in the country is not more than $100 billion. Therefore, we need $100 billion in foreign investment, and this depends on our relations with the outside world, neighboring countries, and Iranians abroad.”
However, according to UN statistics, Iran attracted less than $1.5 billion in foreign direct investment last year.
Iranian Authorities Block Roads to Burial Site of Teenager Killed by Security Forces
On the occasion of the second anniversary of the death of Nika Shakarami, a teenage protester who died during the nationwide protests in Iran in 2022, her family reported that the roads leading to the cemetery where she is buried have been blocked.
According to these reports, officials are not even allowing Nika’s family to enter the cemetery and visit her grave.
Nika Shakarami was one of hundreds of protesters killed during the protests that erupted after the death of Mahsa Jina Amini, who died in the custody of Iran’s morality police in 2022. Government authorities forced her family to bury Nika in a remote village near Khorramabad in the Lorestan province.
Similarly, on the second anniversary of the death of Mahsa Jina Amini, a comparable situation occurred at the Aichi cemetery in Saqqez, where she is buried, and officials prevented her family members from leaving their home to visit the grave and pay tribute to this young woman.
Seventeen-year-old Nika Shakarami disappeared on the night of September 19, 2022, during the first days of the nationwide protests, on Keshavarz Boulevard in Tehran, and her body was handed over to her family eight days later.
On May 10, 2024, BBC World Service reported that it had obtained a “highly confidential document” from the Iranian regime, indicating that Nika Shakarami was sexually assaulted and killed after being arrested by security forces.
The Iranian regime has a long history of sexually abusing political prisoners and using it as a tool to suppress protests and break the prisoners’ spirit.
Aging and Low-EfficiencyPower Plants Worsen Iran’s Electricity Shortage
Several organizations active in Iran’s power industry have warned that the country’s electricity shortage in the summer of 2024 will reach 26,000 megawatts, equivalent to over 30% of peak electricity demand during the summer. This report is by Dalga Khatinoglu, an energy expert.
Ali Nikbakht, Chairman of the Board of the Iranian Power Plants Association, has stated that the current summer electricity shortage is between 19,000 to 20,000 megawatts, warning that if no measures are taken now, the shortage will reach 26,000 megawatts next year.
Hamidreza Salehi, Chairman of the Board of the Federation of Energy Exports and Related Industries, along with Hassanali Taghizadeh, Chairman of the Power Syndicate, have recently issued similar warnings.
All three power industry experts believe that not only is it impossible to address the current electricity shortfall in the short term, but there is little hope of even maintaining the current level of imbalance.
Nikbakht also highlighted the aging and deterioration of a significant portion of Iran’s power plant capacity, stating that plants currently out of service for repairs are contributing to the imbalance. Proper planning, including ordering parts two years ago, could have prevented this situation.
He further noted that the nominal capacity of all power plants in the country is currently around 92,000 megawatts: “Of the 15,000 megawatts generated by steam power plants, over 12,000 megawatts are over 30 years old, and among gas plants, 2,700 megawatts are also over 30 years old.”
Thus, 80% of steam power plants and 11% of gas power plants in Iran are effectively outdated. Together, low-efficiency steam and gas plants account for 43% of the country’s total nominal power capacity.
The extent of the deterioration in thermal power plants, combined with the sharp decline in hydroelectric generation due to drought, is so severe that despite around 93,300 megawatts of installed nominal capacity, the actual electricity generation is only about 61,000 megawatts. In other words, 30% of Iran’s electricity production capacity is currently out of service.
The Cause of Iran’s Growing Power Shortage
Iran should have increased its electricity production by at least 7% annually over the past decade to meet the growing demand. However, the last time it achieved this was in 2010. Since then, the country’s electricity consumption has consistently grown at twice the rate of production. As a result, Iran, which had net electricity exports of 8 terawatt-hours annually until the mid-2010s, is now facing a massive power shortage. The problem is that Iran now faces electricity shortages not only in the summer but in all seasons.Government Deflection
On September 5, Hassanali Taghizadeh criticized Iranian regime officials for blaming the public for excessive electricity consumption, stating that household electricity consumption per capita is not only below the global average but about half that of Europe. Losses in Iran’s outdated transmission and distribution networks amount to 40% of household electricity consumption, a staggering figure that, at current regional electricity prices, equates to an annual loss of four to five billion dollars. On the other hand, the majority of Iran’s power plants are steam or gas-powered with an efficiency of 29% to 33%, meaning that a significant portion of fossil fuels like gas, diesel, and mazut is lost during the process of electricity generation. Over the past decade, Iran has been unable to implement plans to convert its steam and gas power plants to combined-cycle systems with 45% efficiency. Currently, combined-cycle plants account for 39% of the country’s nominal power generation capacity. Low-efficiency steam and gas power plants collectively make up 43% of the country’s electricity generation capacity. Nuclear power and renewable energy sources each account for 1% of Iran’s total electricity generation capacity. The rest of the country’s nominal power generation capacity comes from hydroelectric power.Three Million Tehran Residents Living in High-Risk Subsidence Zones
Ali Beitollahi, the head of the Risk Management Division of the Road, Housing, and Urban Development Research Center, says the rate of subsidence in Tehran has reached 20 centimeters, and 3 million people in this city live in a “subsidence zone.”
On Wednesday, September 18, Beitollahi told ILNA news agency, “The subsidence zone in Tehran has reached 50 kilometers in length and 30 kilometers in width, and based on studies, including Tehran and its surrounding cities, more than three million people are living in the subsidence area.”
According to this official from the Iranian regime’s Ministry of Roads and Urban Development, in previous years, subsidence in Tehran was only observed in parts of districts 17, 18, and 19 and had not reached its current extent, but now it occupies a vast area.
Beitollahi warned about the consequences of subsidence in Tehran, noting that the presence of fuel reservoirs in subsidence areas could have significant economic as well as social consequences.
According to him, the Rey fuel reservoir, which is the largest supplier of gasoline for Tehran, is located directly on the subsidence zone. The southern Tehran refinery is also situated within this same subsidence area.
He also identified industrial areas as part of the high-risk regions of Tehran, stating that many factories and facilities are located directly on subsidence zones.
Geology experts assess that the mismanagement of water resources is the main reason for the worsening of subsidence in various parts of Iran.
Official reports indicate that at least 14 provinces in Iran are affected by subsidence, with subsidence rates exceeding 10 centimeters.
Previously, the head of the Department of Environment and Sustainable Development at the Tehran Municipality referred to subsidence as a “silent earthquake” or “earth cancer,” stating that “Tehran holds the global record for ground subsidence.”
Despite the threat that subsidence poses to the safety of citizens, a comprehensive solution to address it has yet to be implemented.
Beitollahi had previously criticized the inaction of institutions in addressing subsidence, stating, “There is no provision regarding subsidence in any of the country’s construction laws or regulations.”
Ali Javidaneh, the head of Iran’s National Cartographic Center, also described the phenomenon of land subsidence in May 2024 as a “time bomb,” saying, “We have sent maps of the country’s subsidence zones to the responsible agencies, and these agencies must explain why they are not using this information for their planning and actions.”
The critical situation of land subsidence in Iran is not limited to Tehran and threatens many other major cities and even historical landmarks.
In recent months, experts have also warned about the increasing rate of land subsidence in historical areas and its destructive impact on historical monuments such as Persepolis and Naqsh-e Jahan Square.
Iranian Regime Sentences Two Political Prisoners to Death
The Iranian regime’s judiciary sentenced Behrouz Ehsani and Mehdi Hassani, two political prisoners, supporters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI), the largest opposition group in Iran, to death. The sentence, communicated to the prisoners’ lawyer, was issued by the notorious judge Iman Afshari, head of Branch 26 of Tehran’s Revolutionary Court. These two political prisoners were sentenced to death on charges of “armed rebellion, enmity against God, corruption on Earth, membership in the PMOI, gathering classified information, and conspiring against national security.”
Behrouz Ehsani, a 69-year-old political prisoner, was arrested on December 6, 2022, in Tehran and transferred to the Ministry of Intelligence detention center (Ward 209 of Evin Prison), where he was tortured. He is currently being held in Ward 4 of Evin Prison.
Mehdi Hassani, 48, was arrested on September 11, 2022, in Zanjan and transferred to Ward 209 of Evin Prison, where he was subjected to physical and psychological torture. He is currently held in Ward 8 of Evin Prison.
It is worth noting that on April 8, 2024, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) announced the arrest of Behrouz Ehsani and Mehdi Hassani and reported that the regime’s prosecutor had requested the death penalty for several political prisoners, including Hassani and Ehsani.
The issuance of death sentences for these political prisoners comes as over 21 prisons across the country have joined a widespread campaign against executions. This week, the prisoners in the “No to Executions Tuesdays” campaign marked their 34th hunger strike.
Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the president-elect of the NCRI, previously stated that the clerical regime aims to use executions and killings, particularly around the anniversary of the 2022 uprising, to prevent the eruption of public anger against the regime. She added that the regime views the international community’s inaction in the face of the wave of executions as a green light to continue its crimes and violations of international law.
Face And Eyes of Iran’s Regime Ambassador Seriously Injured Due to a Pager Explosion
On Tuesday, September 17, the state-run Kayhan newspaper wrote on its Telegram channel: “According to reports, contrary to claims that the injuries to Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon were superficial, his face and eyes have been seriously injured.”
Earlier, according to the Rouydad24 website, the editor of Mashregh news had written on the social media platform X that “the ambassador’s eye was severely damaged.”
Meanwhile, the state-run Tasnim news agency quoted “an informed source” stating that Mojtaba Amani-Hamedani was injured in the hand and face due to the explosion of a pager belonging to one of his bodyguards.
He described the overall condition of Iran’s regime ambassador in Beirut as “stable” and added that he is under medical treatment.
After the explosions of pagers in Lebanon, which mainly targeted members of Hezbollah, it was reported that Mojtaba Amani-Hamedani was also injured and transferred to a hospital in Beirut.
According to state media in Iran, images showed that he had been injured in both eyes, face, and hands.
Meanwhile, The New York Times, citing a person described as “a member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC),” wrote that pagers distributed by Hezbollah emitted a sound a few seconds before the explosion, causing users to hold them close to their eyes and faces to read the messages.
He said the pager belonging to the Iranian regime’s ambassador in Beirut emitted a sound a few seconds before he picked it up.
According to this report, the ambassador has lost one eye, and his other eye has been severely injured due to the explosion.
Thousands of pager devices exploded simultaneously on Tuesday, September 17, in various regions of Lebanon, particularly in southern Beirut and southern Lebanon—two Hezbollah strongholds. These explosions resulted in at least nine deaths and around 3,000 injuries to different parts of the body.
According to reports, the condition of 200 of the injured is described as “critical.”
Many of the dead and injured were members of Hezbollah, a militia group supported by Iran’s regime.
Lebanese officials, along with Hezbollah, Hamas, and their backer—Iran’s regime—have pointed the finger at Israel. However, Israel has not yet claimed responsibility for these explosions.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, following the explosion of thousands of pagers used by Hezbollah members in Lebanon, the United States urged Iran’s regime to refrain from actions that lead to “further instability” and “increased tensions.”
