Surge in Foreign Students; Iran Khorasan Razavi Facing Urgent Need for 100 New Schools

DID Press: With growing number of foreign students in Khorasan Razavi and the inauguration of a new 12-classroom school in Mashhad, education officials have warned of a severe shortage of educational space and emphasized the urgent need to construct at least 100 new schools to reduce classroom overcrowding and to eliminate afternoon shifts.

The opening of the 12-classroom “Jafar Barzgar” school in Mashhad’s first district highlighted the pressing need for expanding educational facilities for foreign students. The project, inaugurated in a ceremony attended by the governor of Khorasan Razavi and provincial officials, is the eighth educational initiative built in collaboration with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Mashhad.

Hassan Asadi, Director-General of Khorasan Razavi’s Education Department, announced that more than 52,000 foreign students are currently enrolled in the province’s schools. He added that following the government’s new directive on Afghan children’s education, this number is expected to rise to 70,000.

Asadi identified the shortage of school infrastructure as the most pressing challenge, saying: “To meet current demand, over 100 new schools need to be built.” He also highlighted the high classroom density and the large number of rented schools on the city outskirts, emphasizing the necessity of shifting to a single morning session system. “Studies show that afternoon shift students experience over a 30% reduction in learning efficiency,” he noted.