TEHRAN — The plan to alter school calendar is being drawn up and will be prepared prior to the new school year (starting on September 23), Education Minister Mohammad Bat'haei said on Wednesday.

School year normally starts in late September in Iran and ends in mid-June and is followed by a long three-month summer holiday. Of course alteration may happen depending on each school, their curriculum and the students’ grade.

However, it’s been some years that the choking smog which normally engulfs metropolises and the capital during cold seasons force the officials to shut down schools which is pretty harmful as they usually interfere with final exams or in general the educational curriculum.

Bat'haei explained that both the ministry and other responsible organizations are agreed upon altering the school calendar.

“We are now coming up with plans to implement the scheme before the new school year starts,” Bat'haei concluded.

In January, chief of the Department of Environment Isa Kalantari, proposed one-month break in late autumn and early winter for Tehran and northern cities to “ward off students from air pollution”. He proposed the implementation of the break from December 6 to January 5 and instead starting the school year in early September.

MQ/MG