Education Ministry’s latest policy blocks thousands of undocumented Iranian students from enrolling, deepening social and security risks
Iran’s Education Ministry has introduced new restrictions that effectively bar undocumented Iranian children—those without official birth certificates—from enrolling in schools across several border provinces, notably Sistan and Baluchestan. The decision has triggered alarm among teachers, families, and rights advocates, who warn that it will further expand the country’s crisis of educational inequality and social exclusion.
According to a report by the daily Etemad on October 4, school administrators in Sistan and Baluchestan have begun refusing to register children without birth certificates, despite a 2017 government decree that allowed schools to accept them using a temporary “identity declaration” form issued by local authorities. The Ministry now claims that “special security conditions after the 12-day war” justify the new restrictions.
This abrupt policy shift, implemented at the start of the academic year, has already forced hundreds of students—many of whom were enrolled last year—out of school.
A Long-Standing Crisis of Identity and Poverty
Iran regime’s parliament estimated in 2017 that around one million people in the country live without national identification documents, including about 400,000 children. A large share of this population resides in Sistan and Baluchestan, a province where the lack of official identity has deep historical, geographical, and cultural roots.
Many families in remote areas never registered births due to illiteracy, home deliveries, long distances from registration offices, and lack of awareness about civil documentation. Widespread poverty has made the process even harder; in some villages, the number of people without identity papers continues to rise every year.
In 2024, a member of the Dashtiari District Council stated that 98 percent of undocumented residents come from the poorest strata of society. These families not only lack access to basic rights such as bank accounts, social subsidies, and online services but now also face exclusion from education—one of their last remaining lifelines.
Tens of Thousands Denied Education
Local education officials estimate that the majority of out-of-school children in Iran live in Sistan and Baluchestan. Last year, provincial education director Hassan Broushki announced that 10,000 children had been reintegrated into schools. Yet at the start of the 2024–25 academic year, around 40,000 elementary-aged children remained excluded from schooling—not counting those without identity documents.
Independent estimates suggest the true number could exceed 100,000.
Official statistics reveal that 148,769 children and adolescents aged 7 to 18 in Sistan and Baluchestan lack access to formal education—81,325 girls and 67,444 boys—representing roughly 14 percent of the province’s youth population. Dropout rates in upper secondary school have reached 24 percent, meaning nearly one in four teenagers aged 15–17 never return to class.
Structural Roots and Social Risks
Experts warn that denying education to undocumented children is not merely an administrative issue but a growing social and security threat. Children deprived of schooling due to poverty, discrimination, or lack of identity face higher risks of psychological harm, social marginalization, and criminal exploitation later in life.
In border areas where statelessness is widespread, this dynamic can deepen instability and erode community cohesion. Combined with chronic shortages of teachers and schools, child marriage, and weak family support systems, the new registration restrictions have pushed the region’s education system to the brink of collapse.
Regime Inaction and Broken Promises
The new policy stands in direct contradiction to the promises of Masoud Pezeshkian, the regime’s president, who vowed to promote “justice in education and healthcare.” His recent remarks—“Imagine there is no government; find your own way to educate your children”—have been widely seen as an admission of state failure.
In today’s Iran, where governance paralysis meets deepening inequality, stateless and excluded children have become the silent victims of a regime incapable of providing even the most basic rights. Their loss is not only personal but a looming threat to Iran’s social stability and national future.
