The number of pupils in Tehran's schools has fallen in the new school year. Mohammad-Sadegh Motamedian, the Islamic Republic's governor of Tehran, announced on Saturday, 17 October 2026, that 1,000,817 pupils have enrolled in Tehran city schools for the 2026–27 school year, 7,000 fewer than last year.
The governor of Tehran attributed the drop to economic conditions and to what he called "the situation of non-Iranian nationals". He said economic pressure on families has forced some of them to leave the capital or move to the city's outskirts; at the same time, 17,000 pupils have been added to schools in the towns of Tehran province.
A shortage of classrooms and schools in the capital
Motamedian said Tehran province ranks 28th in the country in per-pupil education provision and faces a shortage of 9,000 classrooms and 638 schools. Tehran Municipality has also failed to honor its commitment to build 80 schools.
Field reports by independent Persian-language media show that a number of pupils dropped out or left school before the start of the school year. The cost of schooling has risen sharply, and stationery sales have fallen markedly compared with previous years.
The livelihood crisis and children's future
The figures come as the World Bank has forecast that Iran's poverty rate will reach 38.4 percent this year, pushing more than 2.6 million additional people below the poverty line. The price of chicken and eggs has multiplied, and households are cutting essential expenses one after another. Educating their children is now among those expenses.
The exodus of families from Tehran to the outskirts and to provincial towns, together with the chronic shortage of schools and classrooms, shows that the economic crisis caused by the Islamic Republic's policies no longer merely shrinks households' dinner tables; it has reached the education of the new generation.
According to the governor of Tehran, 7,000 fewer pupils than last year have enrolled in the capital's schools.
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