More than 16.5 million students in Iran returned to school on Wednesday, the start of an academic year in which the effects of war and economic pressures are present alongside preparations for examinations. The official school opening was preceded by Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian ringing in the new academic year on Monday during a ceremony held in Tehran.
Fears of war follow pupils into the classroom
In the first days, some primary-school pupils spoke not only about their new books or meeting classmates after the holiday. A primary-school teacher said fear was present among his pupils and that their discussions focused on what happened at the Shajareh Taybeh School in the city of Minab, southern Iran, on 28 February.
The teacher said the students recalled details of the strike that hit the primary school during lessons more than they talked about the start of the school year. The United Nations Children's Fund, UNICEF, had announced that the strike killed 168 schoolgirls, turning the school in Minab into one of the most prominent symbols associated with the war and its painful effects in Iran.
As schools try to restore their normal daily routines, questions about safety and fear have returned to the conversations of some children, including pupils who did not directly experience the Minab incident. These conversations reflect the incident's continued presence in the students' imagination as they return to classrooms and begin in-person lessons.
Secondary-school students face uncertainty over entrance exam
At secondary-school level, anxiety appears differently among students preparing for the university entrance exam, locally known as the Konkur. Students preparing for the exam said they felt tense and did not know what awaited them during a year in which they saw their educational and personal futures as shrouded in uncertainty.
The university entrance exam is a decisive stage in determining a student's field of study and university, as well as subsequent employment opportunities, requiring secondary-school students to maintain a high level of focus and preparation. According to students' accounts, fears linked to war and uncertainty, alongside the pressures of daily life, are making it harder to prepare for the exam.
Psychologist Mounira Naji said uncertainty about the future and the pressures faced by parents could affect a student's motivation and ability to concentrate. She said this effect was particularly evident among teenagers preparing for decisive examinations such as the university entrance exam. Families are also facing a broad wave of rising prices as the academic year begins.
Inflation raises the cost of supplies and school uniforms
According to data from the Iranian Statistical Centre, annual inflation in the country reached 69.9% in August, while prices rose by 89% compared with the same month the previous year, adding new burdens to the cost of returning to school. The father of two primary-school children said he had spent about 12 million tomans on supplies and school uniforms, excluding fees.
Although the spending of one family does not represent a general measure of education costs, it provides an example of the burdens faced by some Iranian families at the start of the new academic year. The Ministry of Education announced plans to deal with three scenarios covering full attendance, blended learning and distance learning, but began the academic year by opening schools for in-person classes.
The ministry also acknowledged before the start of the school year that schools' coverage of their need for counsellors remained below the required level, as students' and families' experiences of psychological and living pressures continued to vary.
