TEHRAN – Currently, about 500,000 Afghan students are studying in Iranian schools free of charge, secretary general of the national commission on children’s rights has announced.

Mahmood Abbasi made the remarks during a meeting with member of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, juvenile judge Rinat Winter, on Monday.

Over the past four decades, Iran has hosted over 4 million foreign nationals, especially Afghans, he noted, IRNA reported.

Now, more than 500,000 Afghan children are receiving education in Iran completely free of charge, he concluded.

Gholamreza Karimi, head of the international affairs department of the Ministry of Education said that a total 88 percent of the refugees’ children are studying in Iranian schools, it is anticipated that this rate increases to 90 percent in the elementary schools by the school year (September 2018).

The Ministry of Education has allocated 10 trillion rials (nearly $240 million) for refugees’ education, while international donations constitute only 2-2.5 percent of this amount, he added.

FB/MQ/MG