TEHRAN — The Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Cooperatives, Labor and Social Welfare have signed a memorandum of understanding aiming to bring out-of-school children back to school.

The memorandum of understanding will pave the way for future steps, ISNA news agency quoted Education Minister Mohammad Bat’haei as saying on Sunday. 

He made the remarks over the 8th session of council meeting for improving educational standards in underprivileged and underdeveloped areas at the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare.

“The meeting is aiming to live up to educational standards, however, the current conditions are unjustifiable, and we should move faster,” he added. 

In the previous school year 1396-1397 (beginning Sept. 23, 2017), some 142,502 children were missing out on education across the country, but 31,910 of them returned to schools, Deputy Education Minister Rezvan Hakimzadeh said in early January.

She added that five provinces of Sistan-Baluchestan, Tehran, Khorasan Razavi, Khuzestan and Kerman are home to the highest number of children not having access to school or education nationwide.

Deputy Minister of Cooperatives, Labor, and Social Welfare, Ahmad Meydari, said for his part that the main reasons for children not accessing schools, many of which have been poverty, low income or disabilities. 

In December 2018, Saeed Namaki, deputy director of Budget and Planning Organization for scientific, cultural and social affairs, said that 3,843 out-of-school children living on the outskirts of cities nationwide went to school within the past two months and a half.

MQ/MG