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Iran excludes Afghan children from Iranian schools

Iran excludes Afghan children from Iranian schools
posted onSeptember 26, 2024
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Several Afghan families have reported that it is increasingly hard for them to enrol their children, despite having papers certifying their refugee status.

Millions of people, including many children, have already been sent back while the campaign to expel more continues to intensify.

Iran has long been known as one of the worst countries in the region for refugees. The first 10 km of a wall that will divide the two countries has been built.

In some Iranian provinces, including Kerman, Shiraz and Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad, school authorities have reportedly refused to enrol Afghan students who have only basic papers, reports AmuTV, a multimedia channel based outside Afghanistan.

Ham-Mihan, an Iranian pro-reform newspaper, reported that to stay in Iran, Afghan migrants are now forced to buy a "smart card" that costs one billion rials (about ,700).

However, many Afghan refugees avoid registering with UN agencies or Iranian authorities fearful that registration will lead to deportation, or because they hope that Iran is only a transit country to Europe.

In June, the humanitarian organisation Norwegian Refugee Council reported that only 600,000 Afghan children were enrolled in school for the 2023-24 school year out of more than 1.5 million (with the Afghan refugee population said to be around 4.5 million, but is likely much higher).