Nearly 35% of schools in the country have been built through donations from patrons, and charitable contributions are projected to increase to 37% by the end of the current Iranian year in March 2017, according to the director of Iran’s Association of School Building Donors (IASBD), a non-governmental organization. “Over 600,000 patrons are members of the association who have helped construct an estimated 140,000 classrooms (35% of the overall educational spaces) in the country,” said Mohammad Reza Hafezi, ISNA reported. As the public arm of the Education Ministry’s Organization for Renovating, Developing and Equipping Schools, the NGO seeks to build new schools or renovate old ones. The NGO, established nearly two decades ago, received $7.5 million in 2014 from local patrons to build schools.
