Every disabled pupil is entitled to a minimum one-million-rial allowance per annum.

Head of the Exceptional Education Organization unveiled that schoolchildren suffering from mental or physical impairment would be provided with smart medical insurance and allowance cards by the yearend (March 2007).
Majid Qadami told Fars news agency that the mentally- and physically-challenged pupils could use the cards to receive their allowances as of March 21, 2007.
The dual-purpose cards are used for both covering the students’ medical costs and paying their monthly allowances.
Meanwhile, deputy head of the organization for sociocultural affairs noted that every disabled pupil is entitled to a minimum one-million-rial allowance per annum.
Tolouei was quoted by ILNA as saying that the annuity paid to exceptional children would not be less than one million rials annually.
He added that payment of allowances would start as of Sept. 23, 2007.
In related news, the organization’s Public Relations Office announced that each disabled student could receive a maximum one million rials to cover the costs of rehabilitation services during a school year.
As reported by IRNA, provincial exceptional education departments have been notified of the types of refundable rehabilitation services through Medical Insurance Planning Councils.
Applications of students in need of rehabilitation services would be evaluated by the Specialized Rehabilitation, Counseling and Social Work Committee in each province. The children would then be referred to medical centers which have contracts with Dana Insurance Company.
In related news, Qadami unveiled that some seven billion rials had been expended on medical expenditures of exceptional students as of March 21, 2004.
So far, the surgical expenses of 1,200 pupils have been paid by the organization, he added.
According to the official, mentally and physically-impaired Tehrani students are provided with free dental services.
Meanwhile, the organization had signed an agreement with the Cooperative Ministry for establishing cooperatives for exceptional students and graduates.
The organization’s Public Relations Office was quoted by IRNA as saying that such cooperatives would endeavor to create jobs for children with physical impairments.
At least 70 percent of the cooperative members would be disabled students, graduates or their parents; and the remaining 30 percent would be chosen from among teachers and Education Ministry’s personnel and retired employees.

The scheme for paying 10-million-rial marriage loans to newly-wed Tehrani couples by Tehran Municipality will run until August 25, deputy mayor for administrative and financial affairs told IRNA.
Hossein Pourzarandi recalled that close to 130,000 newly-wed couples had already applied for the loan, 70,000 of whom had received the amount by Sept. 2005.
The loan payment scheme was hindered at that time due to budgetary shortfalls.
According to him, based on early estimations the TM had planned to grant the loan to only 70,000 couples. The 700 billion rials required for the task had been disbursed by the municipality and the Ansar-ul-Mojahedin Fund.
In recent months, though, the registration for the marriage loan was resumed. Another 60,000 couples are to receive the loan by September 2006.
Pourzarandi explained that the TM was negotiating with banks, financial institutes and the contractors of development projects in a bid to secure the financial resources required for extension of the loan program.
However, the time of new registration is yet to be announced, he concluded.

Results of an urgent medical assessment conducted among schoolchildren within rural districts and urban areas revealed that only 3.11 percent out of over student 8,463,900 examined had suffered from head louse (Pediculus humanus capitis) during the last school year (Sept. 2004-June 2005).
Announcing this, deputy head of the Education Ministry’s Health Office stated that more than eight million out of a total 14.7 million pupils underwent examinations for head louse.
Majid Mottaqian expanded that 1.82 percent of the 6.775 million examined urban students were diagnosed with head louse.
According to the official, the disease was seen among 8.3 percent of the examined rural schoolchildren (1.68 million).
Primary schools in deprived Sistan-Baluchestan accounted for the highest prevalence of pediculus with 62 percent; followed by provinces of Ardebil, Gilan, Bushehr, Kermanshah, Kohkiloyeh-Boyerahmad, Golestan and Hormuzgan, he added.
Motaqqian pointed out that the Education Ministry had allocated 100 million rials to programs for preventing the spread of the disease among pupils.
The amount was spent on paying the wages of health aides and teachers as well as providing schoolgirls and boys with close to 256,000 permetrine-based shampoos.

A baby boy picnicking with his family on Sizdah Bedar, the Nature Day, which marks the final day of Norouz holidays in Iran. (ISNA Photo)

Nearly 600 orphaned and abandoned children and youngsters are being kept at shelters run by Isfahan Welfare Department, deputy head of the department for social affairs told IRNA.
Saeed Sadeqi explained that the department owns 30 centers, of which three are run by the government and the rest are managed via the board of trustees, using charitable donations as well as welfare subsidies.
Highlighting that Isfahan is considered as the most successful province in terms of keeping and supporting orphans in shelters, he commended the substantial public donations.
Sadeqi expanded that a monthly 780,000 rials is paid for every abandoned child being kept in the Welfare Department’s care centers and 300,000 rials for every child whose custody is granted under the quasi-family scheme.
He put the monthly child support and maintenance expenditure at 1.5 million rials. The amount is needed to meet the children’s educational, welfare and recreational needs.
The department welcomes all donations by benevolent people who wish to fund construction of child care centers as well as families who are eager to obtain custody of orphaned children, he said.
“Most shelters are ramshackle rental buildings in need of renovation and reconstruction. Therefore the department invites philanthropic people to take part in such schemes,“ Sadeqi stated.
“There is a large demand for obtaining the custody of infants. About 930 applicants in Isfahan are on the department’s waiting list.“

Rebels in Democratic Republic of Congo are recruiting children as young as 12, often by force, to swell their ranks before historic elections in the giant central African state, Amnesty International said, Reuters reported.
The London-based rights watchdog said many of those taking up guns in the lawless east are former child soldiers who had been demobilized and reunited with their families. A fresh wave of conscription was forcing many others to flee their homes.
Congo is struggling to recover from a 1998-2003 war but violence continues across much of its east, threatening to undermine elections due in June. The polls are meant to draw a line under a conflict that killed some four million people.
“Once again Congolese children are being abducted and ruthlessly exploited by military leaders to further their own military and political ends,“ Amnesty researcher Veronique Aubert said in a statement. “For several weeks, anti-government forces loyal to dissident general Laurent Nkunda have been recruiting children, often by force, in the Masisi and Rutshuru territories of North Kivu (province),“ Aubert added.
According to UNICEF, some 25,000 children were enlisted into armed groups during Congo’s war but 18,000 have been demobilized since the official end to the conflict in 2003.

UN children’s agency, UNICEF, kicked off a massive education campaign in southern Sudan aimed at doubling the enrolment in primary school spur growth in the region, which has been ravaged by more than two decades of deadly war between ex-rebels, the Sudan People Liberation Movement (SPLM), and the Khartoum government, AFP reported.
According to the agency, only about 22 percent of an estimated 2.2 million school-age children are enrolled in primary school, while some 8,600 teachers, many of whom are untrained volunteers, cover approximately 2,000 schools.
But a peace deal signed in January last year brought an end to the southern Sudan conflict. It has brought hopes of reversing the region’s underdevelopment.
Under the UNICEF-backed program, launched in southern Sudan capital of Juba, some 1,500 new classrooms are currently under construction and a teacher-training program is also underway, the agency said in a statement.

A senior Science Ministry official said 20 percent of university students nationwide have had educational decline due to mental and family-related problems.
Speaking to reporters at a news conference days before the start of a 15-day academic break for students (March 21), deputy minister of science for student affairs Mahmoud Mollabashi highlighted the important role of specialist counseling centers inside universities in warding off educational decline and bolstering students’ morale.
Elaborating on the performance of his department during the second half of the last Iranian year (ended March 20), he said breakfast had for the first time been served in 53 universities throughout the nation.
He added privately-run restaurants had been established in four universities to boost the quality of food and prevent malnutrition, saying agreements had been reached with the Religious Endowments and Charity Affairs Organization to expand the area of dormitories.
Mollabashi noted 200 students would be sent abroad on six-to-nine month scholarships and another 170 postgraduate students would go on long-term scholarships, adding a shift in policy is expected in overseas scholarships as of the new academic year (to start in late September).
On the sports facilities in universities, he pointed to measures adopted to promote group sports. Athletic competitions would be held in 10 districts as of the next academic year.
He further expressed satisfaction with official collaboration to resolve welfare problems facing students during the second half of last year (ended March 20).
Also speaking at the conference, deputy science minister for legal, logistics and parliamentary affairs, Mohammad Hosseini, said the ministry’s objectives and priorities in education, research, technology and student affairs sectors had been set.
Referring to the budget deficit of Science Ministry in different sectors, Hosseini stated that a balance of 1,570 billion rials was to be paid to universities throughout the country by late March.
About 7,000 billion rials in credits was allocated to the ministry last year, adding the figure would rise to 7,300 billion rials this year.
He added 470 billion rials had been expended on research institutions last year, while 580 billion rials would be set aside for them this year.
He then called for the formation of board of trustees at universities, saying the entities can help make decisions pertaining to financial and organizational structure of higher academic centers.
Also addressing the same gathering, deputy science minister for cultural affairs, Mohammad-Baqer Khorramshad, opined that science-oriented activities should replace the previous politically-motivated measures in student guild unions and associations.
Khorramshad added the ministry would prioritize student group activities, scientific associations in particular. It also decides to equip cultural center to encourage students to take part in extracurricular activities.
He said more than two-thirds of the students’ time is spent in dorms, highlighting the ministry’s intention to provide dorms with cultural and group programs.
He noted that cultural centers, particularly those located in universities of border cities, would be offered as much as four billion rials in credits to expand their cultural programs.
Elaborating on the main cultural programs of the ministry, he pointed to Farabi Festival to be held this year at national and international levels to present latest developments in humanities.
Khorramshad further added special rooms would be established in universities for developing theories, criticisms and debates.
Revising the syllabi of humanities courses is another policy of the ministry’s Cultural Department, he pointed out.