Safety Plan for Tehran Schools

In the second phase of a plan to protect schools from hazards, this school year (starts Sept. 23), 500 new schools in Tehran Province will be covered, said head of Tehran’s Crisis Management Organization Ahmad Sadeqi.

“Under the plan, the safety of power and gas systems in all schools will be assessed and students, parents, and teachers are receiving training in emergency response preparedness,” he said, IRNA reported.

Last year more than 1,000 schools were covered in other provinces.

“Renovation and retrofitting of school buildings is not included in the plan,” Sadeqi noted.

According to the Organization for Development, Renovation and Equipping Schools, currently 30% of the buildings are old and need renovation.

Last week, Mohammad Taqi Nazarpour, head of DRES said until the beginning of the new school year, 4,000 new classrooms will be ready across the country with the necessary safety requirements.

At present, there are 559,243 classrooms in Iran of which 1,700 are mud-made and unsafe. Earlier he said 2 trillion rials ($50 million) are needed to rebuild the unsafe classrooms.