The Director-General of Renovation, Development, and Equipping of Schools in Tehran Province has announced that 8,532 classrooms in the province require “demolition and reconstruction.” Experts believe this indicates these classrooms are unsafe, raising concerns about the continuation of education in such facilities.
The state-run IRNA news agency reported on this issue, highlighting the shortage of educational facilities in the capital: “In the city of Tehran, 928,659 students are studying with an educational space per student of 16.5 square meters, whereas the national standard is 28.5 square meters per student—a significant gap.”
In an interview with IRNA, Abbas Zare, Director-General of School Renovation in Tehran Province, said, “To reach the standard educational space per student, Tehran Province needs 13,000 new classrooms to be built.”
The poor condition of educational infrastructure in Tehran has also drawn criticism from Hamshahri, a newspaper linked to the Tehran Municipality.
On October 24, 2024, Hamshahri wrote, “People across Iran assume that Tehran has the best schools and that its educational conditions are far better than other cities. However, interestingly, the educational space per student in many other cities is better than in Tehran.”
Unsafe Schools in Tehran: Over 50% Lack Fire Safety Certification
In addition to the shortage of educational space in Tehran, the lack of safety in existing schools remains a major challenge and a serious threat to the education system.
In this regard, Ghodratollah Mohammadi, head of the Tehran Fire Department, told the state-run Mehr News Agency, “So far, out of 4,538 schools in Tehran, only three schools have received the fire safety certification from the Fire Department.”
The newspaper Javan, affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)—which controls a large portion of Iran’s economy—cited Mohammadi’s remarks and wrote, “Why have officials at the Ministry of Education ignored the warnings from the Fire Department about the unsafe conditions in these schools?”
Javan further emphasized,“Children and teenagers attending school cannot ensure their own safety; this responsibility lies with officials and school administrators.”
Experts argue that education based on global scientific standards and balanced development in Iran has been overshadowed by the ideological policies of decision-makers. As a result, the budget allocated to education—one of the key pillars of national development—fails to meet even the basic needs required to maintain current conditions.
