TEHRAN –More than 7,000 schools with 32,000 classrooms were constructed during the administration of the late President Ebrahim Raisi, Education Minister Reza-Morad Sahraei has said. 

“Per capita education space has extended to five meters and 35 cm as eight schools were constructed on a daily basis on average, ISNA quoted Sahraei as saying.

Also, some 2,700 sport and educational spaces have been built in the same period, the official stressed.

The official went on to say that a total of 70,000 classrooms were renovated and more than a few million square meters of educational spaces were retrofitted.

Prefabricated classrooms will not be used anymore for areas with more than 10 students by the end of the current year.

Half of the schools across Iran are built with the participation of benefactors, Sahraei added.

In August 2023, the Organization for Development, Renovation, and Equipment of Schools announced that the number of newly built schools across the country has increased by 104 percent over the past two years.

On a daily basis, 47 new classrooms have been constructed all over the country during the past two years.

About 40,000 donors are active and involved in building schools across the country, said Mohammad Reza Jafari, CEO of the School-Building Donors Association.

He went on to say that over 49 percent of schools, amounting to 150,000 classrooms, in the country are built with the participation of school-building benefactors.

Construction of sports spaces, libraries, and developing smart schools are among the current needs in school construction,  Jafari stressed.

On July 11, 2023, the 25th conference on honoring school-building benefactors was held at the Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults in Tehran.

Addressing the conference, First Vice-President Mohammad Mokhber said investing in education and manpower training is the root and basis of any country's development, and this starts from schools.

The Majlis (Iranian Parliament) has approved a special budget to support building schools nationwide.

Accordingly, the Ministry of Education should spend one percent of the revenues of state-run companies and the net profits of banks and private institutions to build schools in deprived areas in line with the goal of promoting educational justice.

MT/MG