The Shajareh-ye Tayyebeh Elementary School in Minab, which was bombed on the first day of the United States-Israel war on Iran, killing 120 children, still lies in ruins. A new building has been built in its place, but the school day is short with students attending for just an hour or so to hear the bell ring for the start of the new school year. Online learning has become the medium of schooling since the US and Israel launched their war on February 28.
Children began returning to classrooms last week for the start of the school year for in-person learning. But in Iran’s southern provinces, including Minab, classes at schools and universities will remain online for the first two weeks due to the threat of renewed US bombing. A sense of fear is still palpable in Iran after the harrowing experiences of the Minab school bombing.
When the war started, all schools in Iran were closed as US and Israeli jets carried out surprise air raids on the country. Shajareh-ye Tayyebeh was starting the school week on the Saturday that the bombing began. Students were being evacuated when a double-tap US strike near the school killed at least 120 children and 35 adults.
Parents across Iran still remember their cars crawling through traffic-jammed roads as they tried to reach their children and repeated calls they made to the schools for information. Some abandoned their cars in the middle of the street and travelled by foot. Like other parents who spoke to Al Jazeera, he used just his first name due to security concerns.
Hossein, the father of a first-grade student in Tehran, said these memories lingered as he dropped his children off for their first day at school. Faramarz, a 39-year-old teacher from Minab, lost his wife and one of his children in the school attack. Half of this family is gone now.
I live with this lump in my throat. I feel like I have nothing left to lose,” he told Al Jazeera. Schools are reopening, but I feel that my life will never return to normal.” The Ministry of Education said 1,288 schools were directly or indirectly damaged during the war.
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