In a recent report, the Telegram channel of the Coordinating Council of Trade Union Organizations of Iranian Educators shed light on the distressing increase of suicides among students. Since the onset of October this year, the report reveals a staggering number of student suicides, with eight tragic incidents occurring in January alone.
The report identifies several factors contributing to this alarming trend, including economic challenges, the shrinking middle class, and its subsequent social and emotional repercussions. Ineffectiveness in the education system, the absence of educational resources and counselors in schools, and the financial and inequality in education are identified as catalysts forming a dangerous chain of student suicides.
Among the heartbreaking instances mentioned in the report are the suicides of a 12-year-old female student in Ilam and a 14-year-old female student and child laborer in Sanandaj. Economic difficulties were cited as the driving force behind these tragic events.
In a concerning juxtaposition, the regime’s Minister of Education, Reza–Morad Sahraei, appears to be focused on implementing ideological programs in Iranian schools, seemingly indifferent to the pressing issues plaguing the education system.
The Ministry of Education has initiated controversial actions, including the involvement of clerics in schools, the establishment of mosque-based schools, the recruitment of religious figures as educators, extensive changes in textbooks, gender segregation in educational materials, and the imposition of restrictions on girls in the educational environment.
Despite the shocking wave of student suicides sweeping from Ilam to Sanandaj, the report notes a lack of principled reactions from senior education managers. This inaction is particularly concerning, as the behavior of education managers and officials is identified as one of the contributing factors to the rising suicide rates among students.
One poignant incident mentioned in the report involves Zahra Hatmi, a student who tragically took her own life. A source close to her family revealed that the school principal’s actions, including confiscating her mobile phone and informing her father, led to her fear and subsequent attempt to escape by running to the roof, resulting in a fatal fall.
Citizen reports also highlight another disturbing incident where a female student reportedly expelled for three days due to nail polish took her own life by throwing herself from a half-finished building. These distressing accounts underscore the urgent need for comprehensive reform in Iran’s education system to address the root causes of the rising student suicide rates.
