Iran's new academic year opens on Wednesday against a backdrop of tuition fees that in some cases nearly tripled over the summer, with enrollment falling at private schools across Tehran as war fears, sanctions and the continued collapse of the rial squeeze family budgets. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian marked the start of the academic year by ringing the school bell at a girls' primary school in Tehran on Monday. The Ministry of Education has instructed schools to prioritise in-person teaching after periods of online learning during previous phases of the war.
The ministry also issued a directive capping tuition increases at private schools at 35% for the new academic year, setting fees across the country at between 14 million and 145 million tomans (€53–€549). In practice, the cap is not being observed. Bita, a final-year high school student in eastern Tehran, told Euronews she paid 80 million tomans (€303) last year and 220 million tomans (€833) this year — a 175% increase.
"I'm in my final year of high school. Students in lower grades pay somewhat less. We also have to pay a separate fee for pamphlets and school-printed textbooks, which comes to around 20 million tomans (€76)," Bita said.
"Right now, for a senior at a private high school, their family has to pay roughly 250 million tomans (€947) for their education. Of course, in the affluent neighborhoods in the northern part of the city, this cost goes even higher," she explained. Although the rial is Iran’s official currency, everyday pricing and transactions are conducted in tomans — where 1 toman equals 10 rials — with the open market rate on Monday standing at slightly over 264,000 tomans (or 2,640,000 rials) per euro.
Maryam, 57, works as an accountant at several private primary schools in southern Tehran. She said tuition at one school she works with rose from 36 million tomans (€136) two years ago to 85 million tomans (€322) this year. She has also seen declining enrolments driven not only by cost but by security concerns.
"At one of these schools many pupils have not enrolled because it is opposite a police station and their parents worry that if the war starts again their children will not be safe there," Maryam told Euronews. "Their other concern is that classes may move online and they are not willing to pay heavy fees for virtual lessons at non-profit schools." One school in Tehran's Shahrak-e Valiasr district closed entirely after failing to reach the minimum enrolment required to operate, Maryam added. Official statistics put total enrolment in Iran's fee-charging schools and universities at approximately 3.3 million students, of whom nearly 70% pay tuition.
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