"30% increase" in dropout rates among primary school students in Iran

At the same time as the Deputy Minister of Science stated that 44% of university graduates in Iran are unemployed, the Farhikhtegan newspaper reported a 30% increase in the dropout rate at the primary level.

According to Ali Khairuddin, Deputy Minister of Technology and Innovation at the Ministry of Science, 44 percent of the country's unemployed are university graduates, most of whom are "agricultural graduates."

This statistic is being released at the same time as the rate of emigration of Iranian academic elites has increased to an unprecedented level in recent years.

Previously, Abu Mohammad Mortazavi, then head of Ali Khamenei's representative office for Iranian students abroad, had said, considering the poor employment situation for university graduates in Iran: "It is better for Iranian graduates abroad not to return to the country to avoid disappointment."

Another report indicates that the number of students dropping out or failing to complete primary school education in Iran has increased "significantly."

According to the Farhikhtegan newspaper, its studies have concluded that the dropout rate in primary school in Iran has increased by "30 percent."

The report cited "the high cost of education, the frustration of the less privileged class in competing for this path to growth and advancement, and distance learning" as the causes of this alarming increase in dropout rates.

Source: Radio Farda