MNA – President Hassan Rouhani in a symbolic gesture rang the bell at a girls’ high school in downtown Tehran on Sunday to mark the first day of school year in Iran.







 Iranian students start the school year on September 22, which marks the first day of autumn on the Iranian calendar, after a three-month summer vacation.

The back-to-school ceremony is officially inaugrated by the president each year, as he rings the bells in a symbolic gesture at a chosen school. This year, more than 100,000 schools and educational centers opened across Iran on Sunday, offering curriculum in a variety of subjects to some 14 million students.

Concurrent with the back-to-school ceremony, 59 educational projects came on stream in the earthquake-hit parts of Kermanshah, broadcast via video conference and streaming the president’s message.

President Rouhani voiced his appreciation to those who had assisted in the reconstruction process of the quake-hit parts in Kermanshah, and prayed for the departed souls of those who lost their lives in a terrorist attack in Ahvaz on Saturday.

Rouhani then issued an order for the opening of reconstructed schools in Kermanshah.

During his speech, Rouhani will also raise a question for the student competition dubbed Question of Mehr. Last year, the question was focused on the roots of violence and ways to free the societies in the region and the world from violence.