Alireza Monadi, head of the Education and Research Commission of Iran’s regime parliament (Majlis), announced that the death of Nima Najafi, a student from the village of Sohrin in Zanjan Province, was due to corporal punishment.
In a letter to Alireza Kazemi, the regime’s minister of education, Monadi wrote: “We have been informed that this middle school student died on October 1 due to cardiac arrest caused by corporal punishment and physical strain imposed by school officials.”
Calling the incident “deeply tragic,” he urged the minister of education to order a thorough investigation into the matter and to report the results to the Majlis Commission on Education, Research, and Technology.
Monadi emphasized: “Necessary orders must be issued so that we no longer witness such tragic and heartbreaking incidents.”
On October 2, the state-run Didban Iran news website, citing the student’s uncle and the school’s surveillance footage, reported that the student had been forced to run twice around the schoolyard as punishment. When he attempted to stand in line afterward, he fell to the ground after feeling unwell.
He added that Nima was overweight compared to his peers, which contributed to his cardiac arrest.
Emergency responders who arrived at the school found that the fourteen-year-old had lost consciousness and that his heart and lungs had stopped functioning.
The corporal punishment of students in Iranian schools has a long history, and numerous reports over the years have documented such incidents. This shows that corporal punishment is not a relic of past decades but continues to occur in schools across the country.
In November 2024, the state-run daily Ham-Mihan published a report titled “Education by the Whip,” revealing that corporal punishment of students continues in Iran’s schools.
