TEHRAN – The Ministry of Education will receive a budget of 1.1 quadrillion rials (nearly $26 billion) as proposed in the national budget bill for the next calendar year (starting on March 20), an increase of 72.5 percent compared to the current year.

Currently, some 13 million students are studying and 880,514 people are working in state-run schools, 83 percent of whom are teachers, IRNA reported on Saturday.

Therefore, the budget will be spent on improving education, constructing and equipping schools, paying salaries, and implementing teacher ranking plans.

A budget of 1.1 quadrillion rials (nearly $26 billion) was proposed for the Ministry of Education in the budget bill, equivalent to 13.4 percent of the whole national budget, while it was 10.9 percent of the current year’s national budget.

The government submitted the draft of the national budget bill for the next year to the parliament (Majlis) on December 2, 2020.

The proposed budget amounted to about 24.357 quadrillion rials (about $580 billion), with a 20-percent rise from the current year’s budget.

Supplying basic goods, treatment, and medical equipment; securing livelihood; supporting production and employment; promoting and supporting non-oil exports and knowledge-based companies are the focal points of the bill.

35% growth in school renovation budget

A total of 51 trillion rials (nearly $1.2 billion) was proposed for school renovation in the budget bill, which is 21 percent higher than that of the previous year, Mehrollah Rakhshanimehr, director of the Organization for Development, Renovation, and Equipping Schools, said.

In the Iranian calendar year 1395 (March 2016-March 2017), the number of schools in need of reconstruction and retrofitting was 30 percent, of which some 12 percent must be completely rebuilt and 18 percent must be retrofitted. The rate has reached 19.5 percent over the past four years, with 12.5 percent of schools in need of retrofitting and the rest rebuilding.

FB/MG