Students in Flood-Affected Areas: From Dropping Out to Commuting by Boat

The educational facilities for some students in flood-affected areas are emergency camps. Many of them have dropped out of school. Teacher migration and workforce shortages have become one of the major challenges. Some teachers and students use boats for commuting.

Statements by local officials and published reports indicate a dire educational situation in Iran’s flood-affected areas, particularly in Khuzestan and Lorestan provinces.

According to official statistics, 114 schools in Khuzestan were damaged during the floods of last April, of which 35 schools were “completely destroyed.”

Workforce Shortage and Teacher Migration from Flood-Affected Areas

Mehdi Rafiee Dehkordi, head of Education in Khuzestan, acknowledged a “shortage of 16,000 personnel” in the province, confirming that despite “organizing destroyed and damaged schools” and opening classrooms, some students still study in prefabricated containers.

This local official stated on Monday, October 8 (September 30), in an interview with ILNA: “We are currently implementing a plan to remove the containers, but in some nomadic areas this is not possible. On the other hand, we sent some containers to Masjed Soleyman for assurance, as some schools in this county were damaged by earthquakes.”

Rafiee Dehkordi, stating that “we are implementing a plan to remove the containers,” mentioned the need of Masjed Soleyman and some areas of Khuzestan for “national budget allocation,” saying: “More than 50 percent of schools in Masjed Soleyman have excessive deterioration and do not even meet our standards. These schools must definitely be demolished or renovated in the future.”

The head of Education in Khuzestan also identified workforce shortage as the “main problem” of the province and, referring to severe workforce exodus from Khuzestan, said that the influx of personnel to the province constantly faces a “negative balance.”

Education in Containers

Meanwhile, Reza Zeinivand, director general of Education in Lorestan, announced the allocation of containers to damaged schools and said that “students are currently in these containers.”

This local official stated the number of destroyed schools in Mamulan and Pol Dokhtar as 113 schools, but said that 310 damaged schools have been repaired and put into service.

However, according to the director general of Education in Lorestan, “those schools in the city that were damaged or destroyed do not have containers but instead used prefabricated schools.”

Zeinivand, regarding the difference between prefabricated schools and containers, said: “Prefabricated classrooms are like emergency camps. In addition to using prefabricated schools within the city, we have tried to use second shifts of other schools. In addition to these, we have two incomplete projects (one 12-classroom school and one 6-classroom school) in Pol Dokhtar and Mamulan, which will be ready by October 15. In deprived villages, classrooms that are in the form of containers are also used, and after the flood, some containers were added to them.”

Dangerous Commuting of Students in 37 Villages of Khuzestan by Boat

Due to the non-repair of the floating bridge in Enafjeh district of Bavi county in Khuzestan following the April floods this year, residents of 37 villages in this county, including students, are still facing commuting problems, and students and teachers in this area are forced to commute to school by boat every day.

The principal of one of the schools in Shiri Miri village in Bavi county stated yesterday, Sunday, while referring to the commuting problem of students in this village, to ILNA news agency that this area has faced a 20 percent student dropout rate. The school principal added: “Currently, some of our classes are not operational and many teachers have migrated from the area due to this problem.”

School administrators and residents of these villages have also reported that their appeals to provincial and county officials regarding the installation of a new bridge have been fruitless.

Manouchehr Vornasseri, governor of Bavi, while stating that “there is nothing we can do, we must wait for the military’s action,” said the military, which built the floating bridge in Enafjeh district in 2013, has now given a “positive commitment” to rebuild it.

The principal of another educational institution in this area, however, referring to the commuting problem affecting “more than 30 villages with a population of 12,000,” told ILNA: “Officials only promise and threaten the people regarding bridge construction. They even promised us a permanent bridge that has not yet been groundbreaking. Many of our students, including girls, drop out of school because of this problem as they are afraid to cross the river by boat.”

School problems and other educational challenges are not limited to flood-affected provinces. With the start of the new academic year, statistics on registered students in Iran showed an increase of 500,000 students compared to the previous year. Alongside such an increase, Iran’s Minister of Education acknowledged a shortage of approximately 100,000 teachers. At least 30 percent of Iran’s educational facilities are deteriorated and need renovation. Double-shift or dilapidated schools, classrooms with 40-student density, shortage of human resources and teachers, and discrimination between the capital and provinces and villages are among other challenges of education in Iran.

Source: DW