Families in Iran struggle with school closures even as the airstrikes have stopped

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Mahnaz Ataei, a finance manager in Tehran, brings her 7-year-old to the office and oversees his online classes while trying to do her job.

Schools have been closed across Iran since the United States and Israel launched the war on Feb. 28, with no word on when in-person instruction will resume. The fear of airstrikes has lifted since a fragile ceasefire went into effect, but life has not returned to normal.

As with the COVID closures six years ago, it’s especially difficult for working parents with small children.

“My productivity drops when I have to pay attention to both my child and my work at the same time,” Ataei said. “The hardest part is trying to create balance between work and online classes, and always stressing over whether he is really learning his lessons properly.”

The war killed at last 3,000 people in Iran, including more than 165 people killed in a strike on an elementary school. The ceasefire is set to expire early next week, with the U.S. and Iran still divided on key issues like Iran’s enriched uranium. A U.S. naval blockade could further damage Iran’s already cratered economy.

Safer but not easier

Many parents fled Tehran with their children after the airstrikes began. But the relative safety came at the cost of disrupted routines, crowded living arrangements and financial stress. Now they are struggling to resume normal life with no idea what comes next.

“I feel like I’m suspended — neither in the air nor on the ground,” said Roya Amiri, a housewife who recently returned to Tehran after fleeing with her two sons, ages 10 and 18, days after the start of the war.

The family joined hundreds of thousands of Iranians who fled the capital and other cities for safety in rural areas or the relatively unscathed north. They stayed with relatives, with 15 people living under one roof.

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Tensions flared among the children as they packed into close quarters and their routines — and sleep — were disrupted. Her 10-year-old son has a respiratory illness, and they struggled to find his medication.

Schools shut down after the initial strikes, briefly resuming with online classes for a week in March before the Nowruz holiday. Online classes resumed April 4.

Even with the risk of renewed conflict hanging over the capital, Amiri said she felt returning to Tehran was the right decision. If war breaks out again, she plans to stay in her own home.

“I was tired of living collectively. I wanted to return to my own home and routine,” Amiri said. “I missed Tehran.”

Reza Jafari and his wife took their children to stay with her family — in another home that soon filled with more than a dozen relatives and in-laws.

“Because the sound of explosions was distressing and my children were terrified, I left Tehran for their peace of mind,” he said. “I was happy to be with relatives. It felt like a forced but valuable opportunity to reconnect.”

He said the children seemed to adapt faster, surrounded by grandparents, cousins and constant activity. It was the adults who grappled with interrupted sleep, a loss of privacy, financial pressure and the exhaustion that comes from being a houseguest for weeks on end, no matter how warm the reception.

Life on fast-forward

Padideh Teymourian, an architect, and her husband, Amir Ramezani, who owns a jewelry shop, have had to reorganize their lives around their 6-year-old daughter’s online preschool.

Teymourian’s office resumed work after the holidays and did not allow remote work, she said. Employees who failed to show up were told to apply for unpaid leave.

Their mornings begin with a rush to prepare a makeshift classroom at home. One of them has to sit beside their daughter throughout her classes, ensuring she has the right book open and is following along.

Ramezani shifted his schedule so he could remain at home during the day. Teymourian takes over in the afternoon, using hourly leave to cover the gap. “My husband’s work schedule has been completely disrupted, and I also take about an hour and a half of hourly leave every day,” she said.

Ramezani often returns late at night, after their daughter has gone to bed. Family dinners are rare.

“It has put economic and emotional pressure on both of us,” he said. “Life is moving on fast forward … You don’t even notice how the day becomes night. We’re just getting through time until things go back to the way they were.”