Financial assistance has been given to students of the fourth grade of Enghelab Elementary School in Shin Abad district in Piranshahr city, West Azarbaijan Province in northwest Iran, who were injured in a fire incident in December 2012.
Compensation amounting $5630, $3380 and $2820 were given to the students with moderate, mild and superficial burns, respectively, said Anoushiravan Mohseni Bandpei, head of State Welfare Organization, IRNA reported.
The classroom of the 29 fourth graders was engulfed in fire after the heating system burst into flames and the school staff failed to extinguish the blaze. Two of the students lost their lives, and 9 sustained moderate, 2 students mild and one, superficial injuries.
Bandpei said the SWO is striving to restore normalcy to and reduce depression and psychological problems of the affected students.
“Further, for each student a bank account equivalent to $4225 was opened, which they can access after they are 18 years old,” he said.
Teams of psychologists, psychiatrists and social workers “will be sent to help them cope with mental distress which they still harbor as a result of the accident.”
The incident provoked outrage at the time and the former government was blasted by sections of the media for failing to provide enough safety in the schools, especially in the poorer districts of the province.
Bandpei did not explain why it is taking his organization and/or the present government so long to meet the needs of the few affected Shin Abad students.
It was also not clear why the Education Ministry and other relevant bodies have been unable to provide the necessary post-trauma therapy to those in need a full three years after the tragic incident.
