Alireza Kazemi, the Iranian regime’s Minister of Education reported that 750,000 students are out of school, noting that “approximately 150,000” of these are in primary education, while the rest are in middle school.
Kazemi stated that the issue of out-of-school students is unrelated to the Ministry of Education, claiming that those dropping out at the middle school are seeking work and vocational skills.
Several experts believe that school dropouts to enter the labor market have accelerated in recent years, coinciding with rising inflation and worsening poverty.
In this regard, the state-run Shargh newspaper reported on September 22: “Students consider dropping out and entering the labor market as a win, while attending school and spending hours in class feels like a loss to them.”
The state-run Khorasan newspaper also addressed this issue on August 1, writing: “Economic hardship and poverty are the most significant reasons for dropping out of school.”
Regarding the issue of girls being excluded from education in deprived areas and rural regions, social activists link it directly to poverty and child marriage.
In this context, the state-run Donya-e-Eqtesad newspaper published the results of a study on child marriage on August 13, stating: “In Iran, factors such as low per capita income, high inflation, and income inequality are among the primary causes of early child marriage.”
Meanwhile, the education system suffers from a shortage of teachers, insufficient classrooms, and deteriorating educational infrastructure. In this regard, the Deputy for Physical Education and Health of the Ministry of Education reported a shortage of approximately 8,000 physical education teachers nationwide.
As these shortages and educational crises have intensified in recent years, the regime’s officials have focused on changing the content of school textbooks.
Modifying textbook content and altering educational approaches in schools have been longstanding concerns of the Iranian regime’s Supreme Leader. Ali Khamenei has frequently expressed sensitivity to textbook content and called for their revision.
In May 2022, during a meeting with teachers and educators from across the country, he stated, “Useless content in textbooks must be removed.”
In November 2023, the Secretary of the Collaboration Headquarters between the Seminaries and the Ministry of Education told ISNA news agency about the hiring of 3,000 male and female seminary students as teachers. He stated, “Seminary students cooperating in the ‘Amin’ program with this ministry are entirely ‘voluntary,’ ‘devoted,’ and work in school counseling without receiving any financial assistance from the Ministry of Education.”
