Families in Iran are voicing growing concerns over government policies that impose mandatory tuition fees even for public schools, making it increasingly difficult for parents to afford education for their children.
In response to an Iran International request for submissions at the start of the new school year, Iranians submitted audio, text and video messages describing their concerns.
A recurring theme was the so-called “voluntary support” or enrollment fees in public schools—charges that schools make a condition for school attendance.
“My son has straight A’s and was accepted into a NODET school with flying colors, but I can't afford 2 billion rials for his tuition,” one message said. “The Iranian government is stripping away our children’s right to education.”
Gifted students who pass the National Organization for Development of Exceptional Talents (NODET) exams can technically apply for tuition waivers if they cannot cover the costs.
Since 2023, the government has also promised tuition-free education for disadvantaged students, covering registration and other expenses. But parents say the reality is far different.
Another parent reported that public schools refused to enroll their child unless tuition was fully paid. “Due to joblessness and financial pressure, I still haven’t been able to enroll my child,” they said.
Some families even shared their children’s transcripts, noting that despite top grades, schools demanded steep enrollment fees. “My child tops every grade, yet the school demands 140 million rials ($137),” one parent said. “This clearly predicts a brain drain for our gifted students.”
A family in Ahvaz described wide variations in preschool and high school fees. “For high school, they demanded 150 million rials ($148), and one school asked for 350 million rials ($346). For preschool, they required an initial 16 million rial form fee, then 80 million rials ($79) for enrollment, plus 23 million rials ($22) for stationery.”
Some parents highlighted new obstacles, including compulsory preschool attendance. “Preschool isn’t mandatory, but when registering my son for first grade, they said he must attend preschool for a month with payment. The principal said it’s enough to pay, even if he attends just one session,” one parent wrote.
Others reported coercive practices. “My son goes to a public school. In June, before receiving his report card, they demanded 25 million rials per student for the new year. Without payment, next year’s registration wouldn’t proceed, and they withheld the report card,” a parent said.
Islamic dress code for girls
Families with daughters also face higher costs due to mandatory uniforms that comply with Islamic dress codes.
“The uniform for girls costs about 10 million rials ($9), and we paid 130 million rials ($128) for school transportation. Additional fees are charged throughout the year,” another parent said.
University tuition has followed a similar trajectory, rising sharply in recent semesters. “In previous semesters, I paid 32 million rials ($31) for 19 units, but now they want 70 million rials ($69) for 20 units. In this economic situation, it’s nearly impossible,” one student said.
A student in Mashhad reported that tuition at Azad University had increased by at least 70% compared to the previous semester. “The academic year at Azad University began with a major shock.
Students faced heavy costs for course registration. In humanities and arts, tuition has risen three to five times,” said Samira Rahi, a journalist in Turkey. “Many students have had to take a leave of absence or drop out due to these costs.”
Globally, countries allocate about 5% of GDP to education. Iran spends just 2.93% (2023), compared with the global average of 4.4%, according to The Global Economy, an online data resource.
"I am pleased to report that Elizabeth Tsurkov, a Princeton Student, whose sister is an American Citizen, was just released by Kata’ib Hezbollah (MILITANT Hezbollah), and is now safely in the American Embassy in Iraq after being tortured for many months," Trump wrote on Truth Social, without elaborating.
"I will always fight for JUSTICE, and never give up. HAMAS, RELEASE THE HOSTAGES, NOW!"
Tsurkov, a PhD student at Princeton University in New Jersey and fellow at the New Lines Institute, disappeared in March 2023 while conducting research in Iraq.
Her sister Emma confirmed Tsurkov's release after 903 days in captivity and thanked the Trump administration.
No group among Iraq's kaleidoscope of armed militias had claimed responsibility for her disappearance. Israeli officials believed she was being held by Kata’ib Hezbollah, an Iran-backed Shi’ite militia.
While the group has denied involvement, an Iraqi official had told Israel’s Channel 11 that she was first detained by Iraq’s intelligence service—or by individuals impersonating officers—before being transferred to the militia.
Kata’ib Hezbollah is one of several Iran-backed and funded armed groups which took part in Iraq's conflict against Islamic State militants but amassed power and influence by maintaining their arms after the fighting largely winded down.
While no official comment was made on the case by Tehran, an Iraqi security source told Iran International that among those considered for the exchange was Mohammadreza Nouri, a member of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force.
Nouri was sentenced to life imprisonment in Iraq in September 2023 for orchestrating the murder of American citizen Stephen Troell in Baghdad in November 2022. It was not clear if he was ultimately released.
Zahra Behrouzazar told an event at Iran University of Medical Sciences that a “Suicide Prevention Command Center” had been formed in Tehran province and would be expanded nationwide.
“Each of us is responsible for reducing suicide and our hope is that suicides will reach zero. This is an ambitious goal and requires a national program,” she said, according to state news agency IRNA. She described suicide as “a form of violence against oneself” and said prevention requires both “structural reforms and changes in mindset”.
Behrouzazar said Iran’s Social Emergency service -- a crisis intervention network run by the State Welfare Organization -- had been “65% effective” in its interventions and operates a 24-hour response in 378 cities.
“We cannot place all the burden on the Social Emergency; the supportive role of families matters,” she added.
Hassan Mousavi Chelek, the Welfare Organization’s deputy for social health, told the same conference the Social Emergency has worked on suicide prevention since 1999 and now runs fixed centers, mobile teams and the 123 hotline around the clock in 378 cities, IRNA reported.
He said interventions related to suicidal thoughts and attempts had increased fivefold between 2021 and 2024, which he said showed both need and growing public trust in the service.
Azarakhsh Mokri, a psychiatrist and associate professor at Tehran University of Medical Sciences, said social factors “more than medical illness” drive suicide risk, citing loneliness, unemployment and relationship breakdowns. He urged broader use of data and new technologies in prevention and cautioned against “over-medicalizing” suicide, IRNA reported.
The policy announcements come amid a spate of reported cases. Local rights outlet Haalvsh said on Monday that a farmer in Kahnuj, southeastern Iran, died by suicide at a local agriculture department office following alleged economic pressures, and that an internal-medicine specialist at Saravan’s Iranmehr Hospital was found dead in her dormitory after taking medication.
Also on Monday, a 26-year-old janitor who set himself on fire outside the governor’s office in Shadegan, southwestern Khuzestan province, died of his injuries, rights activists said.
In a separate report, a student collective said a female student died by suicide at Mohaghegh Ardabili University, calling for better campus support; the university has not issued an official statement.
Last year, a senior official at the prosecutor-general’s office said Iran records roughly 130,000 suicide attempts annually with about 7,000 deaths, and that suicide is the third-leading cause of death among people aged 15 to 24, according to reports from September 2024.
The official, Gholam-Abbas Torki, added that while Iran’s overall suicide mortality rate -- around 6.6 to 9.1 per 100,000 depending on the estimate -- is below the global average, it has been on an upward trend and requires scientific and coordinated prevention.
Haalvsh, which monitors events in the southeastern province, said around 120 Afghan nationals, including women, children and elderly people, came under fire on September 8 in the border district of Golshan.
The group said Iranian forces used both heavy and light weapons, including a DShK heavy machine gun, without issuing a warning.
According to Haalvsh, the bodies of five of the dead were left at the scene, and one of the wounded lost a leg after being hit by heavy gunfire. It also released the names of those hospitalized in Saravan, adding that the condition of three was critical.
The rights group said about 40 others were detained by border forces.
The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) described the shooting as “a violation of fundamental human rights,” citing the direct fire on unarmed migrants, including women and children, and the use of heavy weapons. HRANA said the failure to provide timely medical treatment and the collective arrests also breached international law.
Haalvshadded that similar incidents have occurred before. In October 2024, Iranian border forces fired on groups of Afghan migrants, leaving dozens dead, injured or missing.
According to HRANA’s annual monitoring, 484 civilians in Iran were shot by security forces in 2024, with 163 killed and 321 wounded.
The reported incident comes amid an intensified crackdown on Afghan migrants in Iran. Late in August, an Interior Ministry official said Tehran expelled 1.8 million undocumented migrants in the past year, most of them Afghans, and intends to remove at least 800,000 more under a government plan.
The United Nations has warned of a looming humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan as deportations accelerate. UN experts urged Iran and Pakistan in July to halt forced returns, saying nearly 1.9 million Afghans had been sent back since the start of 2025.
Iran hosts millions of Afghan nationals, many of whom fled decades of war and instability.
