Deputy Director of International Affairs and Foreign Schools of the Ministry of Education Shahin Noushabadi said on Sunday that 15 schools have been built since 2013 in collaboration with the UNHCR across the country.
“We are now building four more schools nationwide,” he said, adding that some 410,000 immigrants study in these schools, of which 360,000 are Afghan nationals.
“Following an edict issued by the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei to provide education for all immigrants, 48,000 Afghan students illegally residing in Iran have also been able to enrol in the schools around the country,” he noted.
Noushabadi underlined that the UNHCR financial cooperation in school construction is considerable but that more is needed.
His remarks came after Iranian Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli underlined Tehran's determination to find a permanent solution to the problems of the Afghan refugees, and called on the European Union to help Tehran facilitate Afghan refugees' return to their homeland.
"We have asked the European Union to render the necessary assistance to help Afghan refugees' return to their country," Rahmani Fazli told reporters on Saturday.
He reiterated that the European countries should feel responsible and give the necessary help for the repatriation of 3 million Afghan refugees to Afghanistan.
The Iranian interior minister pointed to Iran's willingness to share the experience and facilities of the European countries in dealing with Afghan refugees, and said, "The EU has invited Iranian experts in different Afghan refugee aid sectors to travel to Brussels and become familiar with EU's new achievements and we have also agreed with the EU's request."
In a relevant development in October, Rahmani Fazli in a meeting with Afghan Refugees and Repatriation Minister Hossein Alami Balkhi in Geneva said that necessary measures have to be taken to pave the way for the voluntary return of illegal Afghan immigrants living in Iran.
"Afghan government has to make further efforts to prevent its nationals from illegally entering into Iran," Rahmani Fazli said on the sidelines of the 66th session of the Executive Committee (ExCom) of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
"The value of Iran's work in hosting millions of Afghan refugee's now is revealed that receiving a few thousands of refugees from war-stricken countries has created a lot of problems for European countries and even in some cases they have treated the refugees in inhumane ways," Rahmani Fazli added.
Meanwhile, the Afghan minister appreciated Iran's hosting of his countries nationals for four decades and said that Afghan officials are making every effort to prepare the ground for the return of Afghan immigrants to their home country.
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