The right to education is a fundamental human right enshrined in Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), Article 13 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), and Article 28 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). In Iran, however, this right is being systematically violated. Despite decades of oil revenues, millions of Iranian children remain excluded from education, while schools and universities have been transformed from places of learning into arenas of poverty, discrimination, and repression.
Dropouts and Illiteracy
Official figures show that in the 2022–2023 academic year, at least 929,798 students dropped out of school. UNICEF estimates the real number to be over one million, while representatives of the regime’s parliament admitted that the figure could be as high as two million children deprived of schooling.
In addition, Abdolreza Fouladvand, head of the Literacy Movement Organization, admitted that around 18 million Iranians are either illiterate or semi-literate (Tasnim, December 2023). The highest dropout rate is among secondary school students aged 15–17, with more than 556,000 teenagers forced out of school. Even at the primary level, the dropout rate rose to 1.2%, a sharp warning sign. According to the regime’s parliamentary research center, 42% of children completing primary school still lack basic reading skills.
Poverty and the Cost of Education
Widespread poverty and high education costs are the main reasons why millions of children are denied schooling. According to Amir Toyserkani, vice-chair of the Stationery Manufacturers Association, families of nearly five million students cannot afford even the most basic school supplies (September 2025). A simple school uniform now costs over 1.5 million tomans, more than a week’s minimum wage.
Seventy percent of school dropouts come from the lowest five income deciles. Meanwhile, around one million children attend private schools charging between 35–80 million tomans per year, while public schools are left underfunded. This sharp inequality has turned education into a privilege for the wealthy. Moreover, Iran’s per-student spending is only $300, compared to the global average of $9,313.
Multiply Marginalized Groups
Certain groups are disproportionately deprived of education:
– Child laborers: Nearly 48.7% of working children are excluded from school, while over 21% suffer from malnutrition.
– Girls and early marriage: UNICEF reports that 17% of women aged 20–24 were married before the age of 18. Over the past decade, more than one million girls under 18 were forced into marriage, and at least 15,000 girls gave birth before age 15 (ISNA, 2022). In Sistan and Baluchestan, 46% of girls drop out due to lack of nearby schools or unsafe travel routes.
– Religious minorities: In 2018 alone, 58 Baha’i students were expelled from universities. The regime systematically excludes children of unrecognized faiths.
– Afghan refugee children: Large numbers have been admitted without adequate infrastructure, leading to overcrowded classes and declining quality.
– Children with disabilities: Around 15% of school-age children with disabilities in Iran are entirely excluded from education (UNICEF).
School or Prison? Repression of Students
During the 2022–2023 nationwide protests, at least 1,700 high schools saw student demonstrations, with girls playing a leading role. In May 2025, regime judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei admitted that more than 90,000 students, teachers, and professors had been arrested during the 2022 uprising (Tasnim, May 2025).
Among the documented victims, at least 599 protesters were killed, including 78 children under 18 and 94 women. At least 14 students have been conclusively identified among the dead, while hundreds of other teenagers and young people were shot dead in the streets or tortured to death in prisons.
In September 2025, two imprisoned Sharif University award-winning students, Amirhossein Moradi and Ali Younesi, issued a joint statement from prison:
“What links our hands from prison to the university is the determination to resist every form of dictatorship. If a prison cell can become a battlefield, so can a classroom.”
This brutal crackdown violates Article 37 of the CRC and Articles 6, 7, 19, and 21 of the ICCPR, which guarantee the right to life, protection from torture, freedom of expression, and peaceful assembly.
Collapse of Quality and Militarization of Schools
Iran’s education system is collapsing: more than 102,000 classrooms are lacking and another 120,000 are structurally unsafe. In Tehran, 80% of schools are unsafe, while thousands of children attend makeshift classrooms in shipping containers or mud-brick buildings (Tasnim, January 2024).
Meanwhile, the government spends less than 3% of the education budget on non-staff needs such as infrastructure. A promised $3 billion allocation for school renovation in 2017 was never delivered—only 1.4% was actually spent.
In international assessments, Iranian students scored 413 in PIRLS 2021, among the lowest in the world. Instead of addressing this crisis, the regime signed an agreement with the national police to take over security inside schools and even interfere in curricula. Education Minister Pezeshkian declared himself “a soldier of Commander Radan,” the notorious police chief.
International Responses on the Right to Education in Iran
International organizations have repeatedly raised concern over the systematic violation of the right to education in Iran:
- UNICEF: In its annual reports, UNICEF has stressed that over one million Iranian children are deprived of schooling, with child laborers, girls, children with disabilities, and Afghan refugees among the most affected.
- UNESCO: Under the “Education for All” framework, UNESCO has identified Iran as lagging behind its obligations, allocating less than 2% of GDP to education.
- UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC): Special Rapporteurs on human rights in Iran have repeatedly condemned the systematic exclusion of religious minorities, particularly Baha’i students, from education.
- UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC): In its periodic reviews (2016 and 2020), the Committee expressed grave concern over child marriage among girls and the denial of education to Afghan refugee children and Iranian girls.
These international positions underline that the education crisis in Iran is not merely a domestic issue but a clear breach of binding international obligations consistently documented and condemned by the global community.
Human Rights Analysis and Conclusion
The ruling regime in Iran is in clear breach of its international obligations:
– UDHR (Art. 26): free and equal access to education.
– ICESCR (Art. 13): universal right to education.
– CRC (Arts. 28, 37): right to education and protection from detention and torture.
– ICCPR (Arts. 6, 7, 19, 21): right to life, ban on torture, freedom of expression and assembly.
These violations result in:
– Reproduction of poverty and inequality.
– Destruction of equal opportunities.
– The denial of a future for an entire generation.
We call on UNICEF and the UN Human Rights Council to:
1. Recognize Iran’s education crisis as a pressing human rights emergency.
2. Hold the regime accountable for ending discrimination and militarization of schools.
3. Launch urgent programs to support deprived children, especially girls, minorities, and child laborers.
The systematic denial of education to millions of children in Iran is not just a policy failure—it is a crime against the future of a nation.
