TEHRAN – United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) welcomes Iran’s efforts to extend education opportunities for nearly half a million Afghan children in the country, UNHCR spokesperson Babar Baloch has said.

He made the remarks at a press briefing at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.

He further recognized that the country needs greater humanitarian support because of the economic challenges it faces today.

Iran is amongst the world’s leading refugee hosts for decades and currently is hosting one million registered refugees from Afghanistan, in addition to over two million Afghans who are living in Iran either without documentation or on national passports, according to UNHCR.

However, during the past year, economic conditions in Iran led to difficulties for Iranians and Afghan families to make ends meet.

So, UNHCR expressed concern that without additional global support for refugee operations in Iran, our ability to continue supporting the government in providing education to Afghan children will be drastically affected.

Mahmood Abbasi, secretary-general of the national commission on children’s rights announced in March that currently, about 500,000 Afghan students are studying in Iranian schools free of charge.

The Ministry of Education has allocated 10 trillion rials (nearly $240 million) for refugees’ education, while international donations constitute only 2-2.5 percent of this amount, he added.

FB/MG