The Ahwaz region (Khuzestan) is facing a deep crisis in its educational infrastructure—one that extends far beyond the official figures released by the government. Mohammad Jafar Ghaempanah, the Executive Deputy of Iran’s President, recently announced the existence of “4,000 dilapidated, stone-built, and prefabricated classrooms” in the area, stating that so far only 600 new classrooms have been constructed, with plans to build another 400 by the end of the year.

However, field investigations and independent reports indicate that the real shortage of classrooms is much greater than the official statistics suggest. Thousands of students continue to study in unsafe and substandard environments. This stark gap between official numbers and on-the-ground realities highlights a serious and systemic lag in the development of Ahwaz’s educational infrastructure.

During the inauguration ceremony of the “Pardis Iran” school in Ahwaz, Ghaempanah praised the efforts of students and teachers and emphasized the pivotal role of public participation in achieving educational equity, calling for collective action to address the existing shortages.

The “Pardis Iran” school, recently launched with only 12 classrooms, represents a small part of the broader “Educational Justice” initiative. Despite such projects, more than 3,000 classrooms remain in limbo, and tens of thousands of Ahwaz students are still deprived of safe and standard learning environments.

These conditions clearly illustrate the gap between the repeated promises of successive Iranian governments and the actual educational needs of the Ahwaz region, underscoring that official statistics reflect only a fraction of the true depth of the education crisis there.