TEHRAN – Iranian virtual school has been set up abroad so that students can receive educational content for free from this system, head of the international affairs department of the Ministry of Education Gholamreza Karimi has announced.

All educational centers in Iran were closed in late February due to the coronavirus pandemic, but in order for students to keep in touch with their studies, the Ministry of Education launched a homegrown mobile application on April 9, called SHAD, providing students with distance learning programs.

Also, a similar virtual school called “Iranian Virtual School” has been set up abroad.

Schools abroad are run on a government budget, and students attend these schools free of charge, Karimi stated.

Overseas schools are required to operate within the framework of the host country. Therefore, in areas such as Kuwait, where schools are not allowed to reopen, education continues virtually, he explained.

While, in some countries, such as Qatar and the UAE, education is followed by a combination of in-person and online, he noted.

In Iran, Education Minister, Mohsen Haji Mirzaei, announced that all schools for the new academic year start on September 5. He said urban and rural schools with high population density will be divided into two groups, with attendance diverted into odd-even days. He added that low-density population areas with lower risk will have a normal routine.

Three weeks earlier, over 15 million students attended schools nationwide for the new school year under strict health protocols.

Each year, Iranian students start the school year on September 23, which marks the first day of autumn on the Iranian calendar, after three-month summer vacation, while this year, in the light of the pandemic, the school year was started 18 days earlier.

This year, education is followed in three forms of in-person, virtual, and television-based, but our priority is school attendance, all schools should strictly follow the health regulations so that the students are protected, Haji Mirzaei said.

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