Tehran School Yard Parking Lots Cause Trouble / From Student Accidents to Car Thefts / Director-General of Education Warns Against Revenue Generation from Schools

Generating revenue from Education Department properties, particularly in a metropolis like Tehran where parking space is clearly scarce in busy areas, has at times led to renting school yards as parking lots. Although pursued to raise funds for resolving school problems, this practice can challenge student safety, the maintenance of educational spaces, and the legal responsibility of school administrators.

Generating income from educational properties, especially in a metropolis like Tehran, where the lack of car parking space in its high-traffic areas is noticeable, sometimes involves renting school yards as parking spaces; Although it is pursued with the goal of earning money to solve school problems, it can challenge the safety of students, the maintenance of educational spaces, and the legal responsibility of school administrators.

According to Ambassador Arjan's report from Ambassador Arjan, in a situation where the increase in school maintenance costs and the limitation of financial resources have emphasized the need to use the capacities of education and training to secure sustainable incomes, renting the courtyards of some schools in high-traffic areas of Tehran to be used as parking spaces has become one of the ways to earn money from educational spaces. Although at first glance it may seem like a good solution for the optimal use of educational properties during school hours, it raises questions about the safety of students, the legal responsibility of school administrators, how to spend the income and maintain the main function of educational spaces.

The school, before being a property with the ability to generate income, is a space for education, upbringing and safe presence of students; Therefore, any economic exploitation of its spaces should be measured with the main mission of the education system.

In the meantime, the border between the optimal use of the unused capacities of schools to generate sustainable income and turning educational spaces into a place for economic activities is an issue that cannot be ignored without paying attention to its consequences.

Now, Majid Parsa, Director General of Education of Tehran, by announcing his opposition to renting out schoolyards as parking lots in some high-traffic areas of Tehran, emphasizes the need to generate sustainable income in education, but he believes that this income generation should not end at the cost of damaging the educational environment, student safety, and distancing schools from their main mission, which is education.

The mission of education is not to generate income

Parsa said: The main thing that I adhere to as a teacher is that the mission of education is not to generate income; Especially since free education is foreseen in the law and education is a sovereign institution.

Stating that the capacities and potentials of education should not be ignored, he added: It is necessary to use the existing capacities to create a stable income, if it does not harm the atmosphere of education and the per capita of students. But it is definitely wrong to use all the assets of education, including schoolyards and even publicizing school toilets, to generate income.

Consequences of renting school yards as parking lots

Referring to the consequences of renting out schoolyards as parking, the Director General of Education of Tehran continued: There are legal restrictions in this field, and such measures can face school administrators with various problems and responsibilities. For example, in some schools, yard space has been rented for car parking, but the asphalt and school grounds have been damaged; While the income from this action did not return to the school itself and was spent in other places.

Referring to the possibility of accidents in school grounds, Parsa said: "We have had cases where a car drove in the school yard and students were in the school for various reasons, including participating in extra-curricular programs, and an accident with a student has also occurred. Therefore, we should not move in this direction regardless of legal restrictions and regulations.

He stated that he is against renting school yards as parking lots and said: In some cases, some schools have arbitrarily turned the school space into a parking lot at night, and thefts from parked cars have also been reported. In such a situation, the question arises as to who is responsible for these events and according to what criteria should the school manager or janitor be held accountable?

The Director General of Education of Tehran emphasized: Moving in this direction will take schools and administrators away from their main mission, i.e. education, and if this wrong practice spreads, education will be involved in issues that are not worthy of the education system.

Parsa continued by emphasizing the necessity of creating sustainable income for schools and said: If there are capacities that can be used without harming the educational environment, we are obliged to use them to create sustainable income.

Referring to an example of this approach, he said: In a school with a courtyard of 3,000 square meters, where it was possible to create a commercial space in a part of it, 200 square meters were allocated to the commercial space in order to create a stable income for the school. An action that was done without harming the student population.

Director General of Education of Tehran stated: Income generation at any cost should not become the priority of education. The mission of teachers is education and it is not possible to damage the school environment and facilities needed by students to earn money.

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