QUETTA: Pakistani authorities have closed two more Iranian schools in the provincial capital of Balochistan, a senior official told Arab News on Tuesday.
Last week, authorities raided the Hazara Town neighborhood in the west of the city where six Iranian schools were shut down.
“The Balochistan Education Foundation and Law Enforcement Agencies closed two more illegal Iranian schools at the Alamdar Road and Marriabad neighborhoods which were run by Iranian nationals,” Quetta Assistant Commissioner Muhammad Zuhaib-ul-Haq said, adding that the “illegal” education operations were teaching foreign curriculum.
Pakistani authorities display the textbooks used in Iranian schools in Quetta on June 14, 2021. (Photo courtesy: Assistant Commissioner, Quetta)
Senior officials told Arab News on Saturday they had identified ten “illegal Iranian schools”, and shut down six, saying the other four were also likely to meet the same fate.
The assistant commissioner said on Tuesday law enforcement agencies had discovered textbooks at these schools which only focused on Iranian history, geography and sociology without providing any information to students on Pakistan.
Abdul Qadir Nail, who was elected to the provincial assembly of Balochistan from Hazara Town and belongs to the Hazara Democratic Party, told Arab News Pakistani authorities had all the right to act against schools which were operating illegally.
“These Iranian schools had signed an agreement with previous administrations, but they had not applied for an extension,” he told Arab News. “Hence, the authorities took action against them and shut them down.”
Assistant Commissioner Muhammad Zuhaib-ul-Haq (left) and an official of the Balochistan Education Foundation take a look at a board in an Iranian school in Quetta, Pakistan, on June 14, 2021. (Photo courtesy: Assistant Commissioner, Quetta)
Nail added that there were dozens of registered schools that were being operated by the Afghan Consulate to educate refugee children, though they were established after the two countries signed memoranda of understanding that covered the subject.
“Iranian authorities should have followed the legal procedure instead of violating the law,” he continued while confirming that the Iranian schools were not only catering to Afghan or Iranian children but also Pakistani students.
According to the Quetta assistant commissioner, some of these schools were set up as early as in 1983.
Muhammad Ali, principle of one of the Iranian schools, said his institute was following Pakistani laws and never intervened in the country’s political affairs.
“We were teaching our students ordinary syllabus that focused on social and ethical subjects instead of discussing Pakistan’s internal politics,” he said. “We were not teaching unethical behavior to our students against Pakistan or any other country.”
The Iranian consulate in Quetta did not reply to phone calls seeking comment.
