A teacher's report about the sale of charitable schools        

Khabar Online: An education expert said: "Hearings indicate that some schools and educational properties with a commercial position that can be sold and have significant customers are being overbuilt. Generally, the old schools that were built in the late Qajar and Pahlavi period are now located in the center of the city. At that time, the space was open and they used it. Gradually the cities expanded and now they are located in the centers of the cities. The center of the cities is generally commercial and has a huge real estate value.

It is a strange news that Khairsaz schools in the most deprived provinces of the country are included in the list of surplus government property. Donors' gifts and their efforts have been ignored in the government. This is while due to the severe lack of schools, the governments have reached out to school benefactors during these years.

Zahra Gitinejad, the CEO of Mehrgiti Institute, which is the main part of the activities of this school building institution, has published a video of herself and is surprised and questioning the large number of charitable schools that have been announced in the list of property developers for sale.

Image2

Benefactors dedicate their time and property to the children of this land in the hope of the country's progress. They are not responsible for compensating for the lack of government funding. 70% of schools become charities and then they are faced with the sale list of their schools, which destroys their trust.

Image3

The Mehrgiti Institute announced in a tweet: "The sale of these properties without the consent and permission of the dear donors of Madrasazaz is not correct from the Sharia, moral and legal point of view. "Mehrgiti has started his actions to pursue this issue."

On 30th of Bahman 1401, in a letter to the Minister of Education, he requested the ministry to publicize the list of buildings identified for handover, and to officially inform the benefactors through a circular that charitable schools are not on the handover list. Mohammad Reza Niknejad, an education expert, said in a conversation with Khabar Online: "Ms. Gitinejad's words refer to a strange issue. If we have surplus schools, there is no need for benefactors to build schools. If benefactors built a school, it was built according to necessity. They have spent thousands of billions of Tomans. According to what I have heard, school building benefactors spend 10 to 15 thousand billion tomans annually. How dare anyone sell the property of charity. Those who do this do not have common sense."

The property belongs to the nation, not the government!

Niknejad says about the generality of education: "Education and health are considered public institutions all over the world. In the new definition, this property does not belong to the government, it belongs to the people. No government has the right to expropriate property. Is the school a property of the government? Every 4 years, a new government comes into office, so this property belongs to the nation and cannot belong to a single government. Education, health and treatment are public goods. For example, Shahid Bahonar camp is one of the properties intended for students. This property should be nationalized in a process like the nationalization of the oil industry in 1332 and returned to the nation."

He continues: "We have 700 to 800 sports places that were built for the welfare of students, and nowadays they are rented because they are not used much. This is not related to this year's productivity issue and has been prevalent for the past two decades, and a student who has the right to use these services for free is forced to pay."

Statistics of lack of schools and growth of student population

This education expert emphasizes: "According to the statistics announced by the government, the student population is growing. Forecasts indicate an increase in the growth of the student population until 1404-1405. The student statistics is one teacher for every 19 people. The global standard is between 15 and 20 students. But in cities, classes are generally 36 to 40 people. It means that we have twice the number of students in the classes than the international standard. As a result, we don't have a surplus of schools, maybe we are facing a shortage of schools. »

Relationship with school land appreciation and productivity

Niknejad says about the increase in the property value of schools: "Hearings indicate that some schools and educational properties with a commercial position that can be sold and have significant customers are being overbuilt. Generally, the old schools that were built in the late Qajar and Pahlavi period are now located in the center of the city. At that time, the space was open and they used it. Gradually the cities expanded and now they are located in the centers of the cities. The center of the cities is generally commercial and has a huge real estate value.

Monetization or privatization of education?

Niknejad remembers the privatization of a part of the public school: "This is our pain. I went to a public school in Ekbatan, Tehran, which had an assembly hall, a dining hall, and a sports hall. This school had two doors, one from the street and the other from the dining hall. "One of the doors leading to the gym was locked and it was rented out to the private sector."

He declares: "This production has already started in the form of rent, but the issue of sale has not been discussed. All these cases in the international framework are the monetization of education. "Privatization in education has different forms, one of the harshest of which is being carried out by the Islamic Republic of Iran."