TEHRAN (Iran News) – President Seyed Ebrahim Raisi has inaugurated the new academic year in Iran where 15 million pupils returned to school, stressing that no one should be left behind in having access to education because of poverty.
Raisi attended a ceremony on Saturday at Fooladfar elementary school in Shahr-e-Rey to Tehran’s south, where the son of Martyr Mohammad-Hadi Narimani rang the bell marking the beginning of the new school year.
Due to the outbreak of the coronavirus, Iranian students will mostly shift to home-based learning until new directives are issued.
During his speech, Raisi underscored the primacy of educational equality, saying, “No one must be deprived of education due to poverty.”
Marking the 41st anniversary of the 8-year war, which was waged on Iran by former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, the president commemorated those who made great sacrifices during the course of the war.
Raeisi also said that the vaccination of about 70% of the country’s population will be completed within the next 3 or 4 days.
Since the new administration under Raisi in Iran took office in early August, the vaccination campaign has accelerated to a considerable extent.
The Iranian president pledged that 70% of the country’s population will be completed within the next 3 or 4 days.
Iran is using a mixture of Iranian-manufactured vaccines and imported vaccines in its vaccination campaign against the Covid-19. The Chinese-made Sinopharm accounts for a major share of the jabs used in Iran while the shares of the locally produced vaccines such as the Cov Iran Barakat and Cov Pars are also rapidly increasing while more Iranian-made vaccines are on the way.
Raisi also commemorated Ali Landi, the Iranian teenager who became a national hero after rescuing two women from fire. He passed away on Friday due to severe burns.
“I honor the memory of Ali Landi, the beloved student of Izeh, who with responsibility and self-sacrifice, in addition to saving the lives of two compatriots, showed that he is a graduate of the school of self-sacrifice and martyrdom,” Raisi said.
President Raisi described family and school as two complementary institutions in human flourishing. “The school is complementary to the family and, of course, the teacher is the backbone of the school,” he said.
The president also called on the country’s other organizations to help the Education Ministry culturally, economically and media-wise, saying all sectors are obliged to help boost quality education.
“Spending resources on education is not a [dispensable] cost, but rather, it is the largest and most productive investment that can guarantee the future of the country,” he said.
“The country’s progress depends on the improvement of education and development of educational skills, and this is where educational equality shows its real importance,” Raisi added.
Iran will import 10 million coronavirus vaccines to inoculate students aged 12 and above.
Meanwhile, Iran’s Television School began operating on Saturday for the country’s approximately 15 million students.
