The start of the academic year in Iran has been marred by anxiety and logistical challenges as students return to classrooms under the shadow of ongoing conflict. In Minab, southern Iran, the Shajareh-ye Tayyebeh Elementary School remains a symbol of recent tragedy; it was bombed on the first day of the US-Israel war on Iran, an attack that killed at least 120 children and 35 adults. Although a new building has risen from the ruins, daily attendance there is currently limited to roughly one hour for ceremonial purposes.
While pupils across much of the country have resumed in-person learning, educational institutions in vulnerable southern provinces, including Minab, will maintain online instruction for the first two weeks due to the persistent threat of renewed aerial bombardment. The nationwide closure of all schools at the onset of the conflict on February 28 saw US and Israeli jets launch surprise air raids, leaving deep psychological scars on families.
Parents express lingering dread regarding the potential for future attacks. Meysam, a father of an 11-year-old in Tehran, described his inability to shake the fear of having to rush to pick up his child if hostilities reignite. “I can’t shake the anxiety that if the war starts again and they call us… how long it will take me to get myself to the school and bring my child home,” he said. He spoke on condition of anonymity due to security concerns.
Hossein, another Tehran parent, noted that the memory of traffic-jammed escape routes and abandoned vehicles during the initial strikes still haunts him. “Today, too, when I left my child at school… I couldn’t shake the thought that the war might start again and a missile could hit the school,” he told Al Jazeera.
The human cost of the war is profoundly felt in Minab. Faramarz, a 39-year-old teacher who lost his wife and seven-year-old daughter in the school attack, expressed a sense of permanent loss. “Half of this family is gone now… Schools are reopening, but I feel that my life will never return to normal,” he said.
The Ministry of Education reported that 1,288 schools were directly or indirectly damaged during the conflict. In response, officials have introduced a “Sacrifice and Martyrdom Bell” into the curriculum to help students contextualize the impact of the wars. Additionally, online learning infrastructure has been bolstered to mitigate disruptions if fighting resumes.
However, educators warn that months of virtual schooling have disrupted student-teacher relationships and made establishing routine essential for children’s wellbeing nearly impossible. Amir, a high school teacher near Tehran, stated that four of the past nine months were spent online. He noted that lesson planning is now complicated by the need to keep group activities flexible in case education is forced back online.
Zeinab, an elementary teacher in Tehran, highlighted the difficulty of maintaining focus when fighter jets fly overhead, as well as the digital divide that could further exclude students without internet access. Meanwhile, emotional reunions at Shajareh-ye Tayyebeh have been tinged with grief, as surviving students mourn friends who did not live to see the new term begin.
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