Qom Targets 175,000 Square Meters of Educational Space Under Justice Development Movement

Qom – The Director General of Renovation, Development and Equipping of Schools in Qom Province announced that 175,000 square meters of educational space is targeted across 79 projects, with a capacity of about 800 classrooms, as part of the Justice Development Movement in educational spaces.

According to Mehr reporter, Ahmadreza Ejtihadi said in a press conference on Tuesday afternoon, referring to the implementation process of educational construction projects in Qom province: In the framework of the justice development movement in educational spaces, 79 projects with an infrastructure of about 175 thousand square meters and a capacity of nearly 800 classrooms have been targeted for the province.

He added: The implementation of these projects is aimed at improving the condition of educational spaces, increasing the number of students per capita and reducing the density of classes, and the efforts of the school renovation complex are to provide students with a more suitable environment.

General Director of Renovation, Development and Equipping of Schools in Qom Province, stating that the state of educational space per capita in the province has been lacking in the past years, said: At the beginning of my tenure, the educational space per capita in the province was about 4.2 square meters, and with the participation of the government, school builders and people, this index has reached about 4.9 square meters.

Ejtihadi continued: Despite the improvement of educational indicators, the current situation is still far from ideal conditions and the average number of students in the classrooms of the province reaches about 35 people, which should be reduced to less than 30 people with the development of educational spaces.

Emphasizing that reducing the density of classrooms should be the main axis of construction planning for education, he clarified: the targeting of projects in the province is also done on the same basis and the development of educational spaces should be followed in accordance with the real needs of students and population dispersion.

The development of educational spaces was accelerated with the participation of people

Director General of Renovation, Development and Equipping of Schools in Qom Province, referring to the role of people in improving the condition of educational spaces in the province, stated: An important part of the progress achieved in this area was the result of the participation of benefactors and the support of the people, and the provincial and national managers also played a role in the realization of this process.

He added: Despite the per capita increase in educational space in recent years, we still need to implement new plans and we cannot ignore the continuation of the development of schools by relying on past actions.

Referring to the scale and cost of implementing educational projects, Ijtihadi said: Some plans of the province include the construction of large conservatories with an infrastructure of five to six thousand square meters.

He pointed out that providing the necessary financial resources to complete the projects, especially in the conditions of increasing construction costs, is one of the serious issues of the school renovation complex, and the support of benefactors becomes doubly important in such conditions.

Director General of Renovation, Development and Equipping of Schools in Qom province said: The planning was focused on the completion of 24 projects by the end of 1404 and 25 other projects from the total targeted projects, and about 10 projects were completed by the beginning of the academic year.

Ejtihadi added: We are trying to complete the other ongoing projects by providing the necessary financial resources until the blessed decade of Fajr and the end of the year, and the possibility of using new educational spaces will be provided.

Providing financial resources is a condition for completing projects

Referring to the limitation of construction resources, he said: In the current situation, government resources alone cannot meet all the needs of the construction sector, and to complete educational projects, more diverse funding paths should be taken into consideration.

The General Director of Renovation, Development and Equipping of Schools in Qom Province considered the generation of assets as one of the important ways of providing resources and added: Pursuing the generation capacities and using the opportunities created in the National Housing Movement plans can play an effective role in providing the required educational spaces.

Referring to the start of construction of about 90,000 residential units in Qom province, Ijtihadi said: regardless of the evaluations related to the formation of these plans, demographic and educational needs due to the development of settlements should be taken into consideration and it is necessary to provide an educational space suitable for the population living in these areas.

He emphasized: Housing development without paying enough attention to the required infrastructure, including schools, can create new needs in the field of education, and it is necessary to seriously follow the issue of providing educational space in related planning.

Qom schools faced an increase in student population

Director General of Renovation, Development and Equipping of Schools in Qom Province, referring to the increase in referrals for registration in public schools on the eve of the new academic year, said: In the last days of Shahrivar, the education and training of the province announced an increase of about three thousand students in public schools, and part of this change was due to the transfer of students from non-government schools to public schools.

Referring to the many years of activity of some good families in the field of school building, Ejtihadi said: families like Ahmadi, Ishraqi and Burqai are among the groups that have participated together to build educational spaces and their actions can be an inspiration for the next generations.

He emphasized: By following the life and activities of philanthropists, the media can familiarize the society with the dimensions of their efforts and provide the basis for strengthening the culture of participation in the construction of schools.

Director General of Renovation, Development and Equipping of Schools in Qom province said: The main goal of these programs should be to explain the place of public participation in the development of educational spaces and to introduce lasting models of benevolence so that the efforts made in this field can be properly narrated to the society.

He added: This situation at the beginning of the school year necessitated the provision of more facilities and equipment, and in order to prevent problems in the place of students, about 1,500 chairs were provided to the schools by the School Renovation Group, and a part of this action was also carried out with the follow-up of education.

Ejtihadi stated that supporting schools and cooperating with the education and training complex is one of the priorities of this General Directorate, and clarified that the limitation of facilities should not lead to students being deprived of the minimum necessary equipment, and in this regard, providing necessary equipment and helping to solve the shortages of schools is on the agenda.

He continued: Last summer, nearly 150 schools were improved and repaired in the form of various programs, and measures such as basic repairs, improvement of spaces, asphalting of the area, implementation of Izogam and standardization of heating and cooling systems were carried out in these schools.

Director General of Renovation, Development and Equipping of Schools in Qom province, referring to the implementation of Shahid Ajamian's plan, noted: Part of the summer measures were carried out in the framework of this plan, and besides the repair and improvement of schools, the restoration of worn-out equipment was also taken into consideration.

Restoration of worn out equipment was put on the agenda

Referring to the renovation of school desks and benches, Ejtihadi said: instead of abandoning part of the old equipment, nearly a thousand worn-out chairs, tables, and benches were renovated so that after repairing and replacing the damaged parts, they can be used again in schools.

He added: Despite the measures taken in the summer, some parts of schools still need more attention, and sanitary facilities are among the spaces that should be planned and acted upon to improve their condition.

General Director of Renovation, Development and Equipping of Schools of Qom Province, emphasizing the necessity of following up the problems of schools, stated: In the area of school asphalt, the necessary measures have been taken at the required points, and the remaining cases should be identified and action should be taken to resolve them.

Ejtihadi also informed about the activities of the founders of non-governmental schools in the field of building educational spaces and said: In Qom province, a number of large-scale non-governmental projects are being built, and some founders have even invested in housing sites to build schools.

He added: The participation of the non-governmental sector in the development of educational spaces can cover part of the existing needs and, along with the actions of the government and donors, provide the basis for increasing the capacity of schools.

The memory of the student martyrs on the path of service remains alive

In another part of his speech, the Director General of Qom Province Schools Renovation, Development and Equipping said, referring to the martyrdom of students in the attack on Minab school, the loss of the martyred leader and the students who lost their lives in these incidents is a heavy loss and these incidents will remain in the historical memory of the Iranian nation.

Referring to the attack on the residential areas of Qom and the martyrdom of one family member in Pardisan area, Ijtihadi said: In one of the damaged buildings in the vicinity of the Islamic Revolution School, 10 people were martyred, four of them were students and members of the same family.

He added: Shahidah Mobina Mahdi was also a student of the Islamic Revolution School who lost her life in this incident, and on this occasion, programs have been planned to preserve the memory of this martyred student in the school.

The Director General of Renovation, Development and Equipping of Schools in Qom province stated: Despite the difficulties caused by these incidents, the activities of the school renovation complex did not stop and the colleagues of this complex continued the process of implementing the projects by attending the workplace and going to the construction workshops from the first days after the accident.

Ejtihadi noted: Although the current conditions and financial problems and inflation have affected the speed of implementation of some projects, the effort of the group is to continue the started projects despite the limitations and reach the exploitation stage.

The benefactors of schools are the lasting assets of the province

He went on to emphasize the necessity of introducing school-building benefactors and the narrative of their lives and stated: the activity of school-building benefactors should not be seen only in the form of holding conferences and special programs, but it is necessary for the media to clarify the dimensions of this valuable contribution to the society by addressing their lives, motives and actions.