“Until further notice, there will be no in-person classes at schools nationwide,” Iran’s Ministry of Education announced last week. From April 21, classes are to be held online via a dedicated national platform and through the state-run television program “Iran TV School.” The measure covers all types of schools and all grades and will remain in effect until further notice.
The announcement comes as Iran remains tense after a fragile ceasefire that halted six weeks of attacks. According to the head of the Organization for School Renovation, Development, and Equipment, more than 640 educational buildings in 17 provinces were damaged during strikes by the US and Israel. About 250 of those schools are severely damaged and require complete renovation; at least 15 are considered beyond repair and must be rebuilt.
NetBlocks, a London-based internet monitor, documented the longest nationwide internet outage on record in the run-up to April 21. Much of Iran is disconnected from the global internet, with most traffic now routed through a heavily restricted national intranet that allows access mainly to domestic sites. Even before the blackout, many social media platforms were blocked and users relied on VPNs to circumvent censorship.
Cybersecurity expert Amir Rashidi, director of the Miaan Group, says the blockade “will most likely never be fully lifted.” Authorities have long pursued a domestic intranet separate from the global web to enable comprehensive state control of the digital space. That network makes it easier to block communications, prevent organization of protests, and stop the sharing of images from demonstrations, while still permitting some services like food-delivery and ride-hailing to operate inside the intranet.
Moving schooling online via the national intranet deepens disparities, especially for students in poorer regions. During the COVID-19 pandemic, some virtual teaching took place over the national network, but remote education requires infrastructure and devices that many families lack. Regions such as Sistan and Baluchistan have weak connectivity, fewer smartphones, and even fewer laptops needed for online lessons.
Charities and donors provided devices during COVID-19, but rising unemployment, economic hardship and inflation since the outbreak of the war have reduced local support, activists say. Because of uneven internet access, some lessons will be broadcast on state TV; Iran’s semi-official Fars News Agency reported that mathematics for seventh to ninth graders will air at 2:00 p.m., followed by physics for twelfth graders at 6:00 p.m.
Parliament is debating rapid expansion of the national information network, increasing bandwidth for educational institutions and developing standardized learning content. Alireza Manadi Sefidan, chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Education and Research, has urged extra investment to improve conditions for nationwide distance learning in schools and universities.
As the national intranet becomes an infrastructural backbone of daily life, large segments of the population remain cut off from the outside world and dependent on limited, state-controlled channels for education and communication.
This article was originally published in German.