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Ali Ajami

Peace Line / Ali Ajami

The Ministry of Education and Training announced in August of this year that in the new academic year, no tuition fees will be charged to foreign students for enrollment in schools. While this news is considered good, it does not completely solve the deep problems faced by foreign students, especially Afghan students, in Iran. This is because this announcement only applies to children who have identity documents issued by relevant Iranian authorities, while a portion of Afghan children living in Iran do not have any form of identification, such as a passport, residency permit, or refugee status.

Approximately eighty percent of foreign students in Iran are Afghan students, and their education in Iranian schools has faced many challenges. Currently, it is estimated that around 400,000 Afghan children are living in Iran, but only 285,000 of them have access to formal education. Many of these children are forced to drop out of school due to financial and cultural poverty, high living expenses, traditional cultural dominance in families, early marriages for girls, feelings of

“این تصویر یک گلدان با گل‌های قرمز و سفید را نشان می‌دهد.”

This image shows a vase with red and white flowers.
Afghan student in Iran

Certainly, these requirements are in complete contradiction with the previous conditions for foreign students studying in Iran. For several years, the registration of Afghan students in Iran has been subject to the payment of tuition fees, which are considered heavy due to the social base of most Afghan immigrants, especially since part of the cost of education for Afghan children is paid by organizations under the supervision of the United Nations. Although, according to Iranian officials, the money paid by the UN Refugee Agency is very little.

Therefore, the temporary action of the government to eliminate tuition fees for foreign students can be seen as a necessary condition for recognizing the problems of foreign children’s education, especially Afghan children. However, it is certainly not enough for various reasons, including the fact that firstly, this is a temporary order and secondly, and most importantly, this facilitation only solves the legal problems of immigrant students and leaves the issue of education for thousands of illegal immigrant children unresolved.

In this regard, the Iranian government has not only not provided