Nazanin Zaghari, Information Officer of the Iran Delegation
At 8am on 23 September 2006, a ringing bell signalled the start of a new school year at Farhanghian Primary School in Bam, Iran. Signs welcomed students to the new school, which was decorated with flags and photographs. Colourful chairs lined the front yard for the opening ceremony attended by hundreds of excited students in dark blue-white uniforms and their parents.
This was a very emotional moment for all those present, who remembered the terrible impact of the Bam earthquake on 26 December 2003.
According to the Ministry of Education, the earthquake left all 131 schools in Bam and the surrounding villages destroyed or damaged (to the extent of being unusable). Between 18,000 and 20,000 students were left without school facilities and teachers.
Classes were eventually resumed in temporary container schools some months later but students and teachers found it difficult to undertake normal school activities, particularly during hot summer and cold winter months. They longed to have classes in permanent school buildings.
This is why the International Federation prioritised support for the education sector during the recovery phase.
“It was like the sky had fallen down on us when the previous school was gone with the earthquake,” said Reza Afshar, principal of Farhanghian Primary School.
"We lost our hope for the future. But now we’ve moved to this beautiful, modern school, which is even better than our previous one. We are very grateful to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies for its sincere support to the construction of schools in Bam.”
Farhanghian Primary School is one of five standard schools built in Bam by the International Federation with the funding from the Australian government as well as the Australian, Netherlands, Irish, Canadian and German Red Cross Societies.
The other four, Jihad, Montazeri, Shamsaddini and Kafi, have also been completed and all have been furnished to Ministry of Education specifications.
The Farhanghian, Jihad and Montazeri schools opened on 23 September 2006 with around 400, 390 and 192 students respectively. The Shamsaddini and Kafi schools will open shortly, as soon as registration and staffing are complete.
“This is the school I was dreaming about”
Representatives of the Ministry of Education and local government joined the teachers, students and parents at the opening celebration of Farhanghian school.
They included Habibollah Burbur Hossein Beigi, Deputy Minister of Education, Mohammad Javad Kamyab, Head of School Renovation Organization of Kerman, and Majid Etemadi, Governor of Bam city.
"We are opening a new chapter in the history of education in Bam,” Mr Burbur told the audience. “Eleven schools, including the five Red Crescent-supported schools, are opening today…classrooms for students are moving from temporary containers to permanent and modern school buildings like this Farhanghian, a positive change in the school atmosphere and the educational facilities in Bam.” He also emphasised how the new schools will help to remove one of the remaining scars left by the earthquake.
"I love my school,” declared Ali Asgariyan, a fourth grade student. “I like my classroom, its blackboard and the colour of the walls. This is exactly the type of a school I was dreaming about."
The International Federation is also building three special schools for children with disabilities and a Bam model school complex, a joint project with UNESCO.
All are expected to be completed by mid-November 2006, thanks to the financial support of the Red Cross societies of Australia, Andorra, Britain, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Liechtenstein, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Monaco, Poland, Sweden and Taiwan.
In consultation with the Ministry of Education and the Iranian Red Crescent, the International Federation plans to hold the final ceremony of completion of the school construction programme in Bam on 26 November 2006.