Afghan Students in Shiraz Protest Against Ban on Enrollment in Iranian Schools

As the new school year begins in Iran, a number of Afghans, especially students, protested in front of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in the city of Shiraz on Sunday.

Refugees told Afghanistan International that Iranian schools will not enrol Afghan students now.

A video of the protest provided to Afghanistan International shows Afghans chanting "Education is our right”.

The protesters called on the United Nations to provide education for Afghan children in Iran.
An Afghan refugee sent a video to Afghanistan International saying that schools are closed to Afghan students.

The sender of the video from Shiraz says that Afghan male students are also not allowed to enrol in schools.

"They don't let Afghan children go to school, the officer says that Afghans have no place, they don't study and the door of the school is closed for them," he said.

This comes as Iran's Minister of Education announced on Sunday that the necessary arrangements have been made for the registration of Afghan students.

Referring to the presence of more than 600,000 Afghan students in Iran, Alireza Kazemi said that after the completion of the registration of Iranian students, they will also be registered.

Despite the Islamic Republic's promise to enrol Afghan students in Iranian schools, there have been numerous reports that Afghan students have been banned.

In late September, schools in Kerman, Shiraz and Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad provinces refused to enrol Afghan children.

On Saturday, Kerman Governor Mohammad Mehdi Fadakar announced during a meeting of the Education Council of Kerman province that the registration of Afghan students without a degree in schools in this province has been seriously pursued and banned.

The Islamic Republic official warned school principals in Kerman province that they do not have the right to register undocumented asylum seekers.