National Iranian Gas Company has met all its financial commitments to help the Education Ministry renovate schools in the deprived regions, the company's financial manager said.
"NIGC paid $96 million between 2015-17 to the Organization for the Development, Renovation and Equipping of Schools affiliated to the Education Ministry,” Mohammad Hossein Hosseini was quoted as saying by IRNA.
As per law, NIGC must pay the Education Ministry 20% of its revenue, and the money is supposed to be spent on building new school, renovate old ones and get rid of the older kerosene heaters that at times create disasters in the winter seasons.
Nonetheless, the dilapidated heating systems are still in place in some schools and claim the lives of schoolchildren at irregular intervals.
In a tragedy in Zahedan in Sistan and Baluchistan Province last week, four 7-year old schoolgirls died when a heater malfunctioned and a class burnt down.
"NIGC has paid the ministry $21 million during the last nine months," the official said, denying rumors in sections of the local press that the government-owned NIGC was not fulfilling its commitments to help renovate educational centers as law dictates.
Risks in Classrooms
IRNA says there are classes in deprived regions like Sistan and Baluchistan that are not equipped with safe heating systems and innocent children are sometimes trapped in fires inside classrooms due to the faulty heaters.
In a similar horrific accident in 2012, a classroom of the 29 fourth graders at Enghelab Girls Elementary School in Shinabad district in Piranshahr city, West Azarbaijan Province, was engulfed in fire after the heating system burst into flames and staff failed to extinguish it. Two students died and several are still suffering from severe burns waiting for several complex face surgeries.
There are more than 14 million students and 560,000 classrooms in Iran. According to UNICEF, free, equitable, quality education can increase a country’s domestic product per capita by 23% in 40 years.
Access to quality education is not a privilege, it is a basic human right.
Sistan-Baluchestan is the only region in Iran which is not fully linked to the national gas grid, according to published reports. There are 130,000 families in Zahedan of which 15,000 are linked to the national gas grid.
