TEHRAN – A total of 1,572,380 students, equaling 24 percent of the target group aged 12 to 18 nationwide, have received both doses of coronavirus vaccine, Azam Goudarzi, a health ministry official, said on Saturday.

To date, 5,607,827 students aged 12 to 18 have received the first dose of coronavirus vaccine, she added, IRNA reported.

Eighty-five percent of students across the country have so far inoculated to gain immunity against the virus, she noted.

Around 6,305,000 students are studying in the country, who have received the Sinopharm vaccine, she also said.

With the decline in COVID-19 cases, schools are gradually reopened with a delay of one month or two under health protocols.

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

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