Minister: Afghan Students Welcome in Iran
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran’s minister of education dismissed any shift in the country’s position on Afghan students, saying his ministry keeps providing Afghan children residing in Iran with the opportunity to receive free education.
In an interview with ICANA, Seyed Mohammad Bathaei said the Ministry of Education has not changed its policy towards the Afghan schoolchildren, stressing that they can still get schooling in Iran on Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei’s previous order.
He emphasized that the country’s current situation would by no means alter the Education Ministry’s policy of serving the Afghan students,adding that the number of Afghan children in Iranian schools is not going to decline in the next school year.
Ayatollah Khamenei in 2015 issued an order stressing that all Afghan children, even children of the undocumented migrants living in the country illegally, have the right to register and study in Iran's schools.
In an interview with Tasnim in January 2016, Afghanistan's Chief Executive Officer Abdullah Abdullah hailed the decision to give the Afghan children the opportunity to go to school in Iran as a “historic measure.”
“We are grateful”, he said, adding that Ayatollah Khamenei’s order has let around 50,000 Afghan students have the opportunity to educate in Iran.
