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Iran: Blogging from the Smallest School in the World

Categories: Middle East & North Africa, Iran, Citizen Media, Digital Activism, Education, Media & Journalism, Youth

Here is another story about how blogging can change lives in a positive way and attract attention to invisible parts of this world.

Abdul Mohammad She’rani, a young Iranian teacher in a very remote village in Iran, blogged about his very small school and his four students [1] in a small Iranian fishing village of Jamalabad Kalu near the southern port city of Bushehr.


Abdul Mohammad She’rani with his four students.

Social media did something nearly miraculous: Iranian media and even CNN reported about this village and the government helped with road construction and other facilities. UNESCO recognised [2]the school as the smallest in the world. You can see several photos of the school here [3].

CNN did a story on this school, that has made the rounds in a video on YouTube [4].

Notes of a teacher as soldier blog (an English blog that translated some of Abdul Mohammad's posts) writes about the first experience of the teacher with this school:

On the first day I became the soldier teacher, a tiny girl with a sweet voice and that lovely southerner modesty came to meet me. She took my hand with her tiny one, encircled with a green bracelet to ward off evil, and showed me Kalou's new school; a school that had no walls and stood just a few steps away from the sea.

In his blog, Abdul Mohmmad writes [3]that he once gave, “If I were the President” as a topic for an essay to his four students.

One of students wrote, “If I were the President I would help poor people, I would not let anyone lives in poverty… I would provide water and electricity for villages in order to help rural people live a comfortable life like urban ones… I would establish peace between different countries and I would not let powerful countries attack weak ones.”

Baz Ham Zendegi (means life again) writes [5] [fa]:

Abdul Mohammad does not complain about the lack of facilities, difficulties and problems. But he writes about life, love of learning and teaching in any circumstances. He teaches his students that kindness is reigning here and life with all its ups and downs goes one…