TEHRAN – Some 3,700 exceptional Afghan students are studying in Iranian schools, an official with the Ministry of Education has said.

These students are treated the same as Iranian students and are provided with educational, rehabilitation, and physical training services, ISNA quoted Javad Hosseini as saying on Tuesday.

There are around 1,600 schools in Iran special for exceptional students, offering services to more than 82,000 students, he explained.

Last year, Mahmood Abbasi, secretary-general of the national commission on children’s rights, said about 500,000 Afghan students are studying in Iranian schools free of charge. 

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

Meanwhile, Gholamreza Karimi, head of the international affairs department of the Ministry of Education, said that the Ministry of Education has allocated 10 trillion rials (nearly $240 million) for the education of refugees, while international donations constitute only 2-2.5 percent of this amount.

MG