120,000 Children Deprived of Education in Sistan and Baluchestan
The head of the provincial assembly of representatives of Sistan and Baluchestan announced that the “actual number” of school dropouts in the province is around 120,000 people, stating that lack of birth certificates is the reason for 30 percent of these children being deprived of education.
Mohammad Naeim Aminifard said on Sunday, July 2, in an interview with the Majlis website (National Parliament website), that the statistics of parliamentary representatives regarding the number of school dropouts differ from those of government organizations.
According to this parliamentary representative, based on government agency statistics, approximately 25,000 to 30,000 people in Sistan and Baluchestan province are school dropouts, but parliamentary representatives estimate this number to be between 110,000 and 120,000 people.
He cited “lack of identity documents,” “absence of educational justice,” “cultural issues,” and “lack of easy access and distance of 20 to 30 kilometers from schools” as among the reasons for children dropping out of school.
Officials in Sistan and Baluchestan province have provided varying statistics regarding the number of out-of-school children in recent months, with some figures being lower and others higher than those mentioned by Aminifard.
MohammadReza Saravani, the general director of welfare in Sistan and Baluchestan, spoke on April 21 about 60,000 school dropouts in the province.
However, Hassan Norouzi, the head of education in Chabahar, had stated on March 12, 2017 that there were 160,000 out-of-school children in Sistan and Baluchestan province, which constitutes one-quarter of Iran’s out-of-school population.
He also announced that 100,000 out-of-school children in the province have returned to education over the past two years.
The head of the provincial assembly of representatives of Sistan and Baluchestan also stated that 70 percent of out-of-school children in the province have birth certificates, and most of them are residents of the cities of Iranshahr, Chabahar, Konarak, Nikshahr, and Saravan.
He announced that identity document problems, including lack of such documents, are among the reasons for deprivation of 30 percent of children, approximately 40,000 others, from education, and the issue of educational deprivation of “people lacking identity documents” in Sistan and Baluchestan province has “become a serious problem.”
According to Aminifard, some of these children are children of nomads, and some are children of Iranian women and foreign nationals, though “of course their number is not significant.”
He also stated that some children living in remote areas, mountains, and deserts do not have birth certificates due to lack of access to government services.
Regarding statistics on out-of-school children in Iran, varying figures have been announced so far. The Research Center of the Majlis announced in 2011 that based on the 2006 census, this number of children exceeded three million people. However, officials at the Ministry of Education have estimated this figure at around 600,000 people.
Some experts consider family poverty, long distances to schools in remote areas, and early marriage of girls as among the reasons for children dropping out of school.
Source: Radio Farda
