Three months of classes held online in Iran because of the war

Tehran – Every afternoon since Iran’s war with the United States and Israel erupted, Sarah has sat with her seven-year-old son for online classes. And despite the current ceasefire, schools remain closed.

The new routine has upended their lives.

The 38-year-old mother was relieved when lessons moved online after the war began on February 28, with US-Israeli strikes hitting military as well as civilian infrastructure, including schools, in nearly 40 days of fighting.

But that also meant balancing daily chores around her son’s classes, assignments and keeping him engaged, as the forced break from school disrupted his sleep and limited contact with his classmates and teachers.

Now only the teacher sits in the empty classroom, voice echoing as she speaks to her pupils by computer.

And at home, mothers must ensure their children are at their own computers and paying attention, even as they bustle around the house.

“We do not want this situation and online classes to continue, because school is an environment that children need, both academically and to learn social skills,” Sarah told AFP.

“The hardest part is that for first-grade students, mothers have to be with their children, and these two hours we are in class are very tiring.”

But she is also grateful, because according to Education Minister Alireza Kazemi the fighting “completely destroyed” at least 20 schools and killed 279 students.

One strike in particular stood out. In the early hours of the war, a school in the southern city of Minab was hit, killing at least 73 boys and 47 girls among more than 150 fatalities, Iranian officials said.

Neither the United States nor Israel officially claimed responsibility, but a New York Times investigation concluded that a US Tomahawk cruise missile hit the elementary school.

– ‘State of uncertainty’ – 

Vahideh Gitifard, a 45-year-old mother and editor, told AFP in Tehran she also had conflicted feelings — relief at her child’s safety but concern over online schooling’s long-term impact.

“Staying at home for such a long and extended period has disadvantages. They do not have that physical activity they used to have at school… They don’t have face-to-face interaction with the teacher.”

Schools have yet to reopen despite the fragile ceasefire in effect since April 8, and as Tehran and Washington appear to be edging towards a framework aimed at ending the conflict.

On Saturday, Iran’s foreign ministry said it was finalising a framework intended to lay the groundwork for a deal.

But Gitifard said that “in this state of uncertainty” she still wouldn’t send her child back to school “until it is officially announced that the war has ended”.

And she was sure other mothers must feel the same.

At Tehran’s Tolou Sabz School, teacher Faezeh Hesarakizad said staff were trying to preserve a sense of closeness with their students despite not being there in the room with them. 

“During classes we turn on webcams, we provide counselling sessions and we try not to let us become distant from each other,” she said. 

“We have not allowed this gap to form.”

– Internet problems –

The school year in Iran usually runs from late September to mid-June, but has faced repeated disruption this year because of the war, internet outages and anti-government protests that erupted in December and peaked in January.

When the fighting began at the end of February, the country was placed under a strict internet blackout, leaving millions of people with access to Iran’s domestic intranet only.

Teachers have had to rely on local applications to hold classes, assign homework and conduct exams, but many parents complain of persistent technical problems.

Lida, a 47-year-old with a 15-year-old daughter, said some applications were “very laggy and have trouble loading files”.

She said teenagers “have also become very isolated and they do not see each other very often. Since they are at a sensitive age, it is hard to allow them to go out on their own.” 

Elementary school teacher Sina works in a village in western Iran. He said smaller class sizes made online teaching easier in rural areas, but warned that “in the long run, the quality of education will drop”.

“The infrastructure for online education is incomplete, and the internet is not reliable,” said the 27-year-old, adding that some villages had no internet access at all. 

In Tehran, Hesarakizad said she has been doing her best to maintain a sense of normalcy. But she too longed for the return of in-person classes. 

“We really miss them,” she said of her pupils. 

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المصدر: Iraqi News