TEHRAN — Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei’s decree in having illegal Afghan immigrants study at Iran’s schools has been widely welcomed by Afghan media, Afghanistan’s Jomhor and Ava news agencies have reported.

Jomhor quoted Afghanistan’s Ministry of Refugees and Repatriations as saying that the decree issued by the Supreme Leader has put an end to the educational problems facing 100,000 Afghan children and teenagers living illegally in Iran.

The enrolling of Afghan students in Iranian schools began since last Monday and those without resident permit can go to schools in provinces Tehran, Isfahan, Qom, South Khorasan, Yazd, Alborz and Semnan, IRNA quoted the Afghan news agency as saying.

There are currently about 230,000 Afghan students in Iran’s schools, Jomhor said.

Iran is trying to create an equal educational opportunity for all Afghan nationals similar to Iranians, it added.

Public schools in Iran are free of charge and the average annual cost for each student according to IRNA is about 1.8 million tomans (nearly $600).
MQ/P