PREVIEW

Rows of first-grade pupils sit on green chairs in the courtyard during a school-year opening ceremony at Fatemeh Zahra Girls' Primary School in Tehran, Iran, on September 21, 2026. The ceremony, known as Jashn-e Shokoufeha, or the Festival of Blossoms, marks the start of school for first-grade pupils across Iran. Iranian state media said about 1.154 million first-grade students were beginning school nationwide this year.