Children in Sistan and Baluchestan still have no ceiling for learning

Education has taken on a bitter meaning in Sistan and Baluchestan, where poverty, neglect, and forgetfulness have gone hand in hand to deprive children of their most basic human right, which is to learn in safety.

In the small, underprivileged village of Soldan in Sistan and Baluchestan province, about 30 students gather in the open air every day to study. Two years ago, the roof of the classroom, the only school in the village, collapsed, and since then, no government agency has taken any steps to rebuild it.

Khosrow Hamedi, a social activist in the area, said: "The roof of the Soldan school collapsed two years ago, and since then, classes have been held outdoors. Despite informing the authorities, no action has been taken."

Images sent in by residents show children sitting on the ground in the sun and the region's monsoon winds, studying next to an old board. Families say they have sometimes built temporary shelters with wood and plastic, but strong southeast winds have always destroyed them.

This situation is not unique to Soldan. According to reports from independent sources, hundreds of schools in Sistan and Baluchestan are in a similar situation. These schools are either without roofs and walls, or their buildings are dilapidated and unsafe.

A local teacher said in an interview: “In one school, 450 students were studying in four classrooms, one of which was actually a warehouse.”

In some parts of the province, students are forced to walk long distances to school due to a lack of space. The shortage of teachers has also compounded the crisis. Multi-grade classes and overcrowding have virtually destroyed the quality of education.

According to new data, Sistan and Baluchestan province has about 5 percent of the country’s population but experiences the lowest per capita education. Experts refer to this situation as “structural inequality,” a discrimination that is not only geographical but also cultural and linguistic. Many Baluch children are educated in a language other than their mother tongue, deepening the learning gap.

The Crisis Group report states that poverty, marginalization, and poor policymaking have turned education in the region into a chronic crisis.

Despite official promises of “free education up to the end of secondary school,” the reality is that millions of children in Iran still lack the most basic educational conditions. In Balochistan, the concept of a “classroom” is sometimes reduced to a wooden board in the shade of a tree.

But the children of Soldan still have hope. They write every day with dirt notebooks and small hands under the hot sky, perhaps one day a roof will be raised over their heads again, a roof that will be a sign of respect for human dignity.

In the Christian view, every child is an image of hope and the light of God. Neglecting their education and safety is not only a neglect of human responsibility, but also a neglect of the spirit of faith and justice.