TEHRAN – The 50th nature school across Iran was inaugurated at Tehran’s Pardisan Park on Tuesday.

“The increase of urbanization and industrialization leads to several mental and physical injuries and diseases including depression and unhappiness in people especially children,” the chief of the Department of Environment Masoumeh Ebtekar said during the inauguration ceremony.

She referred to the creation of nature schools as a way to promote the feeling of happiness among people living in urban areas.

Mahmoud Darvish, an official at the Department of Environment, said for his part that children aging 3 to 12 can enroll in the schools.

The creation and expansion of nature schools is in line with the 20-year national development plan (ending in 2025) with the goal of creating about 1.5 million job opportunities in the country, he added.

The schools aim at improving the youngsters’ environmental literacy, knowledge and understanding of the environment and the circumstances and conditions affecting it.

Taking 17 mobile nature schools nationwide into account, there are currently 50 nature schools up and running in the provinces of Tehran, Hamedan, Isfahan, Khorasan Razavi, South Khorasan, Mazandaran, Gilan, Golestan, Fars, Yazd, East Azarbaijan, Kermanshah, and Kordestan.

Nature school is not interfering with the normal school operating under Education Ministry’s supervision, rather it is a place for the children to spend their free time, enjoy environmental activities there with their parents, and get in touch with nature.

SB/MG