TEHRAN —Currently per capita education space per student is 5.2 percent while the standard space must be 8.4 percent which indicated that some 30 percent of schools are dilapidated, Iran's director of schools renovation, development and equipment organization has said.

Out of the 30 percent ramshackle old schools some 12 percent should be completely rebuilt and 18 percent must be retrofitted, IRNA news agency quoted Mehrollah Rakhshanimehr as saying on Monday.

Province of Khorasan Razavi, Gilan and Sistan and Baluchestan are the provinces with the highest number of tumbledown schools, Rakhshanimehr added. 

In fifths five-year development plan some $4 billion was allocated from forex reserve fund to rebuild and retrofit the old schools, he said, adding that this year benefactors [who make generous contributions for building schools] have committed to make 12 trillion rials (nearly $280 million).

“Our budget line [for renovating schools] also amounts to 10 trillion rials (nearly $230 million),” Rakhshanimehr added.

In the sixth five-year development plan some 3 million dollar is planned to be allotted to school renovation, but the budget is not officially allocated yet, he concluded. 

MQ/MG