TEHRAN – Minister of Education Ali Asghar Fani said on Thursday that there are around 110 learning institutions running with only one pupil and one teacher in the remote villages of Iran.

Such schools not only demonstrate the ministry’s determination to eradicate illiteracy, but also indicate the importance of education for the administration, Mehr quoted Fani as saying.

In addition to one-student-one-teacher schools, there are also about 4,800 schools operating with less than five students this academic year, he said.

Iranian school year began on September 23, 2014.

Fani, who was making the remarks during his one-day trip to the southeastern province of Sistan-and-Baluchestan, added that the government is determined to take important and effective steps in promoting education across the province.

He said that one way to eradicate illiteracy is to find reasons behind students dropping out of school and assisting them to come up with solutions.

He also said that according to the government’s resolution, illiterate people aged 50 and older will be deprived of certain social benefits and welfare in the next Iranian calendar year [which begins on March 20, 2016], showing the importance of education to the province officials who are trying to help educate everyone in the territory.

The education minister also said that an amount of 200 billion rials (some $6 million based on the free market rate) has been spent on distribution of books among the students in Sistan-and-Baluchestan Province, at no cost to the pupils.