TEHRAN – More than 6,000 Iranian women who are residing out of the country are actively engaged in constructing schools, a member of the international committee of the Association of School-building Benefactors, has said.

With the contribution of these benevolent persons, each school expanded to six or seven schools, IRNA quoted Somayeh Hashemi as saying.

She made the remarks on Saturday on the sidelines of the first national school construction conference in Torbat-e Jam, Khorasan Razavi Province.

Benefactors pledge $334m to construct schools

Benefactors have pledged to provide 200 trillion rials (around 334 million dollars) for constructing schools in the current Iranian year that started on March 20, Mohammad Reza Jafari, CEO of the Association of School-Building Donors, has said.

Over 50 percent of benefactors have contributed to building 8,000 classrooms so far this year, IRIB quoted Jafari as saying.

Referring to the number of semi-finished projects to be constructed by benefactors, he said some 1,856 schools and 9,746 classrooms need more budget to be completed. 

Moreover, a total of 3,206 school projects with 1,6157 classrooms are on the agenda to be built, but these projects need the support of the government to be built, Jafari noted.

In the Iranian year 1401 (2022-2023), benefactors allotted 46 trillion rials ( about 70 million dollars) for school construction and collected the needed amount in festivals.

In 1402 (March 2023 – March 2024), their contributions almost tripled, as they increased by 115 trillion rials (almost 191 million dollars).

Over half of schools built by benefactors

By financing 120 trillion rials (about $200 million), school-building benefactors have contributed to the construction of 53 percent of the schools in the current Iranian year, which started on March 20.

In 1998, the Association of School-Building Donors was established, with donors allotting 170 billion rials (around $284,000), IRNA quoted  Jafari, as saying.

In the last few years, benefactors’ contributions have tripled. They have undertaken the construction of more than half of the schools, the official added.

Benefactors’ share increased by 300%

On July 2, the former Education Minister Reza-Morad Sahraei said over the past three years, the share of benefactors in building schools has increased by 300 percent.

If the same trend continues, constructing schools in areas where the per capita educational space is lower than the national standard, i.e., 5.30 square meters, will naturally become a priority, he said.

Over the past three years, more than 7,000 schools with 32,000 classrooms were built in underprivileged areas, the official stressed.

The fact that 64 percent of schools are constructed in rural areas and underprivileged communities highlights efforts to expand educational equity and opportunities, Sahraei further noted.

MT/MG