TEHRAN – Benefactors have proposed 28 trillion rials (nearly $102 million) to be included in the budget bill for the next Iranian calendar year (March 2022-March 2023) for building and renovating schools, Mehrollah Rakhshanimehr, director of the Organization for Development, Renovation, and Equipping Schools, said.

School-building donors allocated more than 30 trillion rials (nearly $111 million) to construct educational places nationwide in the last [Iranian calendar] year (March 2020-March 2021), which has doubled this year.

Since 2017, the government has contributed more than 60 trillion rials (nearly $218 million) to school-building donors, he added.

"Brick-by-brick" national plan started early last year (March 2020 – March 2021), aiming to attract public participation for school construction in deprived areas even by buying a brick.

Iran has many school-building benefactors amounting to 650,000 people inside and 1,000 people outside the country.

A total of 36 trillion rials (nearly $133 million) has been allocated to renovate the schools nationwide over the past 8 years, Seyed Mohammad-Ali Afshani, former head of the Organization for Development, Renovation, and Equipping Schools, said.

According to Nasser Ghofli, the director of the School-Building Donors Association, 400 school-building charities have been registered in the country so far.

107,000 schools need renovation nationwide

There are some 107,000 schools nationwide with 530,000 classes, 160,000 of which are dilapidated, not meeting safety standards, accounting for 30 percent of the schools nationwide.

Rakhshanimehr said in August 2020 that some 30 percent of the country’s schools have been constructed by school-building benefactors and there are 450 school-building charities in Iran.

Iran has many school-building benefactors amounting to 650,000 people inside and 1,000 people outside the country.

About 10 percent of charitable schools are built with the participation of charities abroad. This is a valuable asset, which should be promoted.

The Organization for Development, Renovation, and Equipping Schools started operating in the Iranian calendar year 1396 (March 2017-March 2018), which received a budget of 8.5 trillion rials (about $32 million).

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