TEHRAN -- The State Welfare Organization held a ceremony in Tehran on Saturday for 500 working children to celebrate the National Children Day.

Iran annually observes the National Children’s Day on October 8 and the National Children’s Week on October 7 to 13.

Entitled “Smile of God”, the ceremony was held at 22 Bahman Complex, the first non-governmental center for working and street children.

The complex, which accommodates 50 boys between 12 to 16 years of age, aims to empower working children.

During the celebration, the director general of Tehran department of the organization, Asghar Baqeri, announced that the organization supports the children through paying their education expenses. 

According to a study conducted by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), children from poor households and from households without a formally educated household head are more likely to be engaged in child labor and less likely to attend school than members of rich households and children living with an educated household head. 

The National Children’s Week 2017 is underway in Iran under the theme of “Every Child Is a Proof of God’s Existence”. 

Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults (an Iranian institution with a wide range of cultural and artistic activities in the field of mental and cultural development for children and young adults) has coordinated and is running various recreational and educational programs for the children over the one week celebration of the event. 

SB/MG