ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - More than 16 million students are expected to return to schools across Iran this week as families and students in the Kurdish city of Bukan navigate rising education costs and lingering uncertainty over the prospect of renewed conflict. Parents and students thronged local markets in Bukan, in West Azerbaijan province, ahead of the new school year, with shops experiencing a noticeable surge in activity as families stocked up on school bags, stationery and other necessities. “I’m excited about the new school year. We are buying school supplies. We are buying beautiful bags and other necessities,” Halin Rashidi, a student preparing to enter first grade, told Rudaw on Monday. The start of classes has brought excitement for many children, but concerns over the affordability of school supplies have added to the pressures facing families amid Iran’s broader economic difficulties and its ongoing tensions with the US. “Not only in this shop, supplies are expensive throughout the market. However, some people with one or two children are buying them anyway,” local resident Simko Mam Karimi said. For some students, the return to school is also accompanied by apprehension over whether renewed hostilities could interrupt their education. “I’m studying at Zainabiyah school and I’m happy that I’m buying supplies. Hopefully the school will not shut down,” student Zhino Ouwaisi said. Another student, Navid Halimi, said he was preparing to return to class after completing his purchases. “I have come here to buy school supplies. It feels good to buy them today as I will be heading to school on Wednesday,” he said. Schools across Iran have themselves been affected by the country’s recent conflict. On February 28, a strike hit Shajareh Tayyebeh primary school in Minab, southern Iran, killing more than 150 people, most of them children. A UN-backed investigation released this month said there were reasonable grounds "to believe that the United States committed a war crime by launching indiscriminate attacks that killed or injured civilians or damaged civilian objects."
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