The role of education and upbringing in the development and progress of any society is very prominent and vital; therefore, if this organization does not fulfill its assigned duties, that society will face numerous social abnormalities that many of them are irreparable.

Sistan and Baluchestan Province – with an area of over 187,000 square kilometers and a population of over 2.7 million people – is located in the southeast of Iran, with great potential in terms of geography and geopolitics. This province is one of the most underdeveloped provinces in Iran and has a significant gap in terms of development, health, and education compared to central provinces. Many Baluch activists believe that national, cultural, linguistic, and religious differences are the reasons for the intentional discrimination and lack of planning by the Iranian government for the development of Baluchestan.

According to official statistics, the illiteracy rate in this province is four and a half percent, which is 90 times higher than the national average (1). This is due to the lack of security created by the government, as well as poverty and deprivation, which prevent many students from being able to afford education, and others from being able to attend school due to not having proper identification. More than two months of the new academic year (96-97) have passed in Sistan and Baluchestan while many students are still deprived of having a roof over their heads and books to read. Contrary to the government’s claims, schools made of mud, brick, and straw have not been closed down, and this province is facing a severe shortage of educational staff, standard classrooms, and basic educational and health facilities. In addition, the Iranian education system is contradictory in many ways to modern and progressive education, and Baluch students are heavily affected by the government’s misguided policies of national

Children in Sistan and Baluchestan have a strong motivation for education, but unfortunately, from time to time, hearing news such as “school wall collapse and student death, school bus accidents, discriminatory behavior of non-native teachers, etc.” turns this motivation into despair and the number of students dropping out of school is increasing every year. Other reasons for dropping out of school in Baluchestan include “bilingualism of students, existence of false jobs, lack of identity documents, lack of educational justice, distance between place of residence and place of education, difficulty in accessing some areas, lack of safety on roads, and the resulting anxiety and fear among families – especially for their daughters – along with the problem of transportation and lack of vehicles provided by the Ministry of Education.”

Balochistan has the highest number of worn-out and dilapidated schools in Iran, and despite unfortunate and heartbreaking events, no serious measures have ever been taken by the government to address this issue and other problems. If any action has been taken, it has been very insignificant and ineffective. Currently, the cost of rebuilding these schools has become a significant amount. According to Alireza Nokhahi, the Director General of Education in Balochistan, “To repair this number of educational units, we need three trillion rials, which is beyond the capacity of this department. To reach the national average, we need to build 800,000 square meters of educational space, which requires a huge amount of money and budget.”

On the date of September 13th of last year, “Friba Chahardivari”, a seven-year-old girl in the village of “Bajarebazar”, lost her life due to the collapse of a school door column, and three other children were also injured. After that, the Minister of Education promised to build a six-classroom school in this village, named after Friba; a promise that has not yet been fulfilled.

In another incident, a selfless Baloch teacher by the name of “Hamidreza Gangoozehi”, with awareness of the collapse of the school wall, rushed to the students who were next to this wall and saved them from the danger of being buried under the rubble by throwing them out, and he himself got trapped under it and lost his life.

On the other hand, the long distance of some villages from the place of education has caused many Baloch students to use their personal expenses to rent vans as a school service. On the sixteenth of Esfand month last year, a truck accident with a school service in the village of “Apdam” in the suburbs of Lashar resulted in the death of four female students. This incident caused many parents to no longer allow their children to continue their education in another place from their place of residence.

Discriminatory behaviors of some non-native teachers is another problem that students face in this region. Considering that the instructional language taught in schools in Iran is different from the Balochi mother tongue, initially understanding and comprehending it can be accompanied by additional difficulties for everyone.

At the beginning of the previous academic year, the physical punishment of “Qeisar Ghaderi”, a fifth grade student from the village of “Kheirabad Bamboor” by his teacher was so severe that it forced him to be hospitalized in Iranshahr. Physical punishment of Baloch students has even resulted in worse cases than hospitalization. On November 2, 2010, “Saeed Raeesi” passed away after being hospitalized in Zahedan for several days due to head and skull injuries and brain hemorrhage caused by his teacher hitting him with a book.

“Discrimination-based incidents often occur in Balochistan, causing difficulties for those seeking knowledge and education. The lack of educational justice, which can be attributed to misguided policies and discriminatory governance, has worsened educational indicators in Balochistan and led to high dropout rates. This unequal distribution of human resources and facilities within the province has hindered the achievement of educational justice in Balochistan. The human resources, especially in southern Balochistan, are very weak and most of them are either unskilled teachers or non-native. Meanwhile, in northern areas and cities like Zabol, there are twice as many human resources in the organizational chart. Now, how can a Baloch student, with all these problems and imposed discrimination, compete with a student from Tehran who attends the best schools and is taught by the best teachers, and sometimes even those who design the university entrance exam questions? Therefore, it is clear that the Iranian government, despite its huge oil revenues over the years, has not

Another important and fundamental problem that has caused many Baloch children to remain uneducated is the lack of identity documents such as “birth certificate”. Official statistics estimate the number of these individuals to be between twenty-five to thirty thousand, but Mohammad Naeem Amini, the representative of the cities of Sarbaz and Iranshahr, says, “The number of these individuals is around 110 to 120 thousand.” (3) The lack of identity documents has resulted in many Baloch children being deprived of formal education and knowledge, and essentially becoming child laborers. Many of those without birth certificates are either unaware of the importance of having identity documents, or because they live far from cities and lack transportation, they remain without birth certificates. According to conflicting government statistics, there are approximately four thousand of these individuals in Balochistan. (4) Many of these individuals cannot leave their villages for other cities due to “security measures in the region”; when faced with checkpoints and inspections, they will

More than seventy-three percent of the people of Sistan and Baluchestan province voted for the twelfth government, which is a convincing reason that proves they are tired of the current situation in their land and demand more attention from the rulers of Iran. The Baluch people, based on the slogans of Hassan Rouhani before the election, expect a reduction in poverty and deprivation in Baluchestan and a more careful look at the infrastructure; existing discrimination and security-oriented approach should be eliminated and social justice should be established in its true sense; the government should respect their citizenship rights and not see them as “others” or third-class citizens; it should pay special attention to educational spaces and strive to solve the economic problems of the people, instead of using their votes as a tool by giving unrealistic and unattainable slogans.

Notes:

1. Sistan and Baluchestan needs to recruit 12,000 teachers, IRNA, October 4, 2017.

2. Schools of Sistan and Baluchestan and the word “facilities”, Mehr News Agency, 23 September 2014.

3. 120,000 people in Sistan and Baluchestan are deprived of education due to lack of identity documents, Parliament, July 2, 2017.

4. Four thousand people in Sistan and Baluchestan do not have birth certificates, Zahedan’s call, 23 Ordibehesht 1393.

I’m sorry, I do not understand.

متاسفم، من نمی‌توانم فهمید.