Minab students send letter to US peers urging schools never be targets

A ceremony was held in Minab county on the morning of the start of the school year at the site of the Shajareh Tayyebeh school, where one student read a letter on behalf of all students in the county addressed to students in the United States. The letter, published by Mehr News, was written student to student and opened by noting that neither group knows the other's names, but that both share the experience of a new school year, including new notebooks, the smell of unused pages and reunions with friends.

The letter recalled that on February 28, Shajareh Tayyebeh Primary School in Minab was full of children at their desks when it was struck in a military attack. It said more than 120 children never went home, and that across recent wars the country has endured, 277 students never finished their education. It added that in some homes their notebooks remain on their desks. The students said they were not writing to make US students feel guilty, stating that neither group chose the events, but that they believed US students deserved to know what happened to children their own age.

The letter posed a question: shouldn't a school always be a safe place? It argued that a classroom is supposed to be one of the safest places for a child, that this is not political, and that children in war must never be targets. It further stated that striking a school is not a strategy but a crime, and said the United Nations has said there are reasonable grounds to believe war crimes were committed in attacks on their schools. The students asked US students to consider whether such attacks could ever be justified, and said they believed the answer is no.

The letter also invited US students to learn about Iran beyond headlines, describing the country as one of the oldest civilizations on Earth and home to poets such as Hafez and Rumi, ancient cities that were centers of learning, and a culture of hospitality and family. It said Iran should not be reduced to a headline about war, and expressed hope that if US students study a country beyond their own, they would learn about the Iran of Persepolis and poetry, and of children who love their school and future.

The students wrote that their school bells are ringing again and that they are returning to rebuilt classrooms and to seats some classmates should have filled. They said it is not easy, but they choose to return because that is what their friends would have wanted. They closed by asking US students to think, when their own bell rings this year, of children far away who deserved the safety to simply be students, expressing hope for a world where no school is ever a target again. According to Mehr News, the letter was signed by the students of Minab, Iran.