Iranian Students Return to Classrooms Haunted by Wartime Losses and Fears of Renewed Strikes

Iranian children across the country have begun a new school year marked by grief, anxiety, and the lingering trauma of the recent war with the United States and Israel, with many families still grappling with the destruction wrought by airstrikes that began on February 28. The return to in-person learning, which started last week, comes after months of disrupted education during which all schools in Iran were closed as US and Israeli jets conducted surprise air raids across the country.

The Shajareh-ye Tayyebeh Elementary School in Minab, located in southern Iran's Hormozgan province, remains a stark symbol of the war's devastating toll. The school was bombed on the first day of the conflict, and a double-tap US strike near the facility killed at least 120 children and 35 adults. Although a new building has been constructed on the site, the school day is severely truncated, with students attending for only about an hour to hear the bell ring for the start of the new academic year.

The attack occurred on a Saturday morning as Shajareh-ye Tayyebeh was beginning its school week. Students were in the process of being evacuated when the second strike hit near the school, according to accounts provided to Al Jazeera. The harrowing event has left an indelible mark on parents throughout Iran, many of whom recall the chaos of that day—cars trapped in traffic jams as they desperately tried to reach their children, repeated phone calls to schools that went unanswered, and some parents abandoning their vehicles to continue on foot.

Meysam, a father of an 11-year-old in Tehran, expressed the persistent anxiety that now accompanies daily life. He told Al Jazeera that he cannot shake the fear that if war breaks out again and schools call parents to collect their children, he does not know how long it would take him to reach the school and bring his child home safely. Like other parents interviewed, he spoke on condition of anonymity, using only his first name due to security concerns.

Hossein, another father in Tehran with a first-grade student, described how the memories of the war lingered as he dropped his children off for their first day back. He said that even after leaving his child at school and returning to work, he could not escape the thought that the war might resume and a missile could strike the school. These concerns are not abstract for many families, as the threat of renewed US bombing has kept schools and universities in Iran's southern provinces, including Minab, operating online for the first two weeks of the academic year.

The human cost of the conflict is perhaps most painfully illustrated by Faramarz, a 39-year-old teacher from Minab who lost both his wife and one of his children in the school attack. He told Al Jazeera that his family of four had lives intertwined with the school, and now half of that family is gone. He described living with a constant lump in his throat and a feeling that he has nothing left to lose. In the schoolbag of his seven-year-old daughter, who was killed at school, he said there was nothing but a handful of dreams that no longer exist. Though schools are reopening, he feels his own life will never return to normal.

According to the Ministry of Education, 1,288 schools were either directly or indirectly damaged during the war. Many of these facilities have since been repaired, and new classrooms have been constructed. The ministry is also introducing a "Sacrifice and Martyrdom Bell" into the school curriculum, aiming to help students learn about the impact of the two recent US-Israel wars on Iran. This initiative appears designed to frame the conflict within a narrative of national resilience and sacrifice, though critics might question the appropriateness of such programming for young children still processing trauma.

Anticipating the possibility of another round of fighting, the Education Ministry has stated that online learning infrastructure has been strengthened so that schools will face fewer difficulties if they are forced to return to virtual teaching. This precaution reflects the volatile security situation and the government's recognition that the conflict may not be over. However, teachers and parents have already voiced concerns about the impact that months of online learning have had on children's academic progress and emotional well-being.

Amir, a 37-year-old high school teacher working on the outskirts of Tehran, noted that four of the nine months of the past school year were spent online due to the war. He told Al Jazeera that this virtual education damaged student-teacher relationships and made establishing routines—which he described as essential for children's well-being—almost impossible. He added that teachers are now planning lessons while being advised to carry out as many group activities as possible during the first few months of the school year, precisely because there is concern that the war could start again and education could once again be moved online.

Zeinab, an elementary teacher in Tehran, said that concerns about a new cycle of violence are directly affecting teaching. She told Al Jazeera that it is very difficult to keep students together when fighter jets can be heard flying overhead. She also raised another critical concern: if education moves online again, students who do not have access to the internet will be left out of school entirely. This digital divide threatens to deepen educational inequalities, particularly for children in lower-income or rural households.

The emotional toll on students themselves was evident in a video released on the first day of school, which showed one of the students from Shajareh-ye Tayyebeh speaking about his sorrow that departed friends will not attend classes. The boy said he is not happy that he can no longer see the close friends who lived next to his house, and that he misses them. Such testimonies underscore the profound psychological impact of the war on Iran's youngest generation, many of whom have lost classmates, experienced displacement, or witnessed violence firsthand.

The reopening of schools under the shadow of war raises difficult questions about the long-term consequences for Iran's education system and the mental health of its students. While the government has taken steps to rebuild damaged infrastructure and prepare for future disruptions, the pervasive sense of fear and loss cannot be easily addressed through physical reconstruction alone. Parents, teachers, and children alike are navigating a reality in which the bell that signals the start of the school day is accompanied by the distant possibility of air raid sirens—and for families like Faramarz's, the wounds of the past year may never fully heal.