The “Bitter Story” of School Dropouts in Sistan and Baluchestan Continues; Interview with Abdolsattar Doushoki

While precise statistics on school dropouts in Sistan and Baluchestan Province have not yet been released, according to the statement of the “Deputy for Women and Family Affairs” of the President at the opening ceremony of a charitable school in Iranshahr city earlier this week, this province has the highest number of school dropouts across the country.

Reports indicate that the majority of school dropouts in Sistan and Baluchestan are girls. Additionally, deprivations such as lack of access to school facilities, inaccessible routes from some villages to schools, early marriages, poverty, cultural issues, population dispersion, and other factors have caused Sistan and Baluchestan to have the highest rate of school dropouts among the 31 provinces of the country.

Sistan and Baluchestan Province is located in the southeastern part of Iran as the second-largest province after Kerman.

Absolute Poverty

“Abdolsattar Doushoki,” head of the Center for Baluchestan Studies in London, said in this regard to the Persian Service of Voice of America: “Lack of access to educational facilities exists not only in villages but also in cities like Chabahar. The general population in these areas are marginalized people; there are no schools in these areas. On the other hand, many families cannot afford to buy the minimum educational supplies such as books, bags, shoes, and clothing, as well as transportation costs due to financial poverty. This is while many families do not find education in Sistan and Baluchestan useful because they see thousands of university graduates who have achieved nothing and are unemployed. For this reason, many school-age children and some school dropouts are absorbed into religious schools because education in these schools is free.”

Contradictory Statistics

The head of the Center for Baluchestan Studies in London also stated that statistics about school dropout children are contradictory.

Mr. Doushoki said: “Three years ago, the Minister of Education announced the number of school dropouts as 149,000 people, and this year announced 120,000 people. These statistics are contradictory. Moreover, they have not specified whether these dropouts are from elementary school or secondary level.”

Regarding the background of these education-deprived children, he said: “These children are mostly from families that receive subsidies or are very poor, marginalized, and slum dwellers. After they drop out of school, in adulthood they are drawn into activities such as fuel smuggling.”

According to the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the government is obligated to provide the conditions for education up to the end of secondary level for all Iranians.

Mr. Doushoki says that the Islamic Republic of Iran has not only failed in its obvious duty but also scapegoats.

He said: “The authorities of the Islamic Republic not only provide contradictory statistics but also contradictory reasons regarding school dropouts in Sistan and Baluchestan Province. They constantly say that girls in this province drop out of school because of early marriage, while official statistics show that fewer than 500 girls of school age in the province get married. Moreover, their claim that families send 7-year-old girls into child marriage is completely false. Some families in the province, like many other parts of the country, send their daughters into child marriage at ages 14-15; these are scapegoatings by the Islamic Republic to show that children drop out of school because of cultural problems of the province’s people.”

Compassionate to Others

This civil activist residing in London has another point. He says the Islamic Republic is compassionate to those who serve the system’s goals, but not to its own people.

He said: “In recent days, more than 30,000 Pakistani Arbaeen pilgrims have entered Sistan and Baluchestan from the Mirjaveh border and have benefited from all the health facilities from which the Baluch people are deprived. If the government cannot afford to equip schools and educational facilities in Sistan and Baluchestan Province, then why does it reduce allocations from the deprived people of the province and provide these trips with government expenses for Pakistani pilgrims.”

The issue that Mr. Doushoki points out has also occurred in other parts of Iran.

Source: Voice of America