Iran Focus
London, 29 Sep – An Iranian math teacher took to social media to publish a damning letter about the harsh state of education in his region and across the country; asking how many children would have to die before the Iranian Regime would fix the problem.
Mehdi Fathi, from Sanandaj, north-west Iran, dissected the unfit buildings that are used as schools and classrooms.
Earlier this month, we heard of children being forced to learn in animal shelters but now we know that other school environments have actually resulted in the death of teachers and pupils.
Fathi recounts how a school building collapsed in April, taking the life of a heroic teacher, Hamid Reza Gangouzehi, who was saving the lives of his trapped students.
The Iranian regime did not, it appears, learn any lessons from this state of affairs as in early September, a five-year-old girl, Fariba Chardivari, died when the school building collapsed upon her whilst she swung on the doorframe.
Fathi wrote: “Even the walls of Sistan and Baluchistan schools and most deprived areas in Iran are fed up with so much educational injustice and are no longer able to bear even the weight of the doors and windows, let alone the weight of a few children hanging on the doors and playing the swinging game.”
Three other children were injured in the collapse, but schools should not be so shoddily built (or maintained) that they can be destroyed during a child’s playtime. Fathi asserts that the schools should be demolished and rebuilt as they cannot keep children safe.
He said: “Our language falls short and we do not know how and with what language we should talk to the authorities to make them understand the dire and disastrous situation of schools to think on a fundamental solution? What other disaster should occur until the elite come to themselves and take care of these deprive children?
Fathi continued: “After these accidents how do we expect the students to be happy and spend half of the day in these schools with fear and trembling? And how do we expect the teachers who should have complete peace of mind and be in total mental calmness to educate and train students> How can they focus while the classroom ceiling may collapse on them and their students at any time?
Fathi finished by calling on those in power to help solve the problem.
He wrote: “Here is neither Gaza, nor Iraq, nor Syria… There is no war and no explosion nor suicide bombing to cause the death of schoolchildren and teachers. Here is Sistan and Baluchistan, and the walls of schools have undertaken the task of Daesh (ISIS) taking the lives of students and their teachers one after another. And we are still thinking about sophisticated military equipment to defend these people and this country….”
