TEHRAN – Schools are gradually reopened with a delay of one month or two under health protocols with the decline in COVID-19 cases.

Students in tenth, eleventh, and twelfth grades will attend schools from November 6, while students in seventh, eighth, and ninth grades, as well as elementary students, will go to school from the beginning of November 22.

In 16 provinces, 90 to 99 percent of the students have received the vaccine and in 11 provinces, 80 to 90 percent of students, Mehr reported on Friday.

All educational centers in Iran have been closed since February 2020.

In order for students to keep in touch with their studies, the Ministry of Education launched a homegrown mobile application on April 9, called SHAD, providing students with distance learning programs. More than 60 percent of students and 94 percent of teachers attended 64 percent of classes through the SHAD app, whose acronym in Persian translates as the Students Education Network.

Moreover, the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) also began to broadcast televised educational programs on a daily basis after school closures.

Due to the vaccination and the reduction of transmission, schools are gradually reopened since September, and about 15 million students across the country can benefit from face-to-face education with strict observance of health protocols during school hours.

FB/MG