School girls poisoned in Iran to stop their schooling...

Parents seek explanation from authorities...

Younes Panahi, Iran's deputy education minister, claimed on Sunday that "some people" were poisoning schoolgirls in the holy city of Qom in order to prevent girls from attending school. "It was discovered that some people wanted to close all schools, particularly girls' schools," Panahi told a local news channel.

Hundreds of cases of respiratory poisoning among schoolgirls have been reported since late November, primarily in Qom, south of Tehran, prompting parents to seek an explanation from authorities.

According to IRNA, on February 14, parents of sick students gathered outside the city's governorate to "demand an explanation" from authorities. The next day, government spokesman Ali Bahadori Jahromi said the intelligence and education ministries were investigating the poisonings, AFP said.

However, these reports were of poisoning of school girls were termed as “rumours” by Iran’s education minister Youssef Nouri, claiming that the students taken to the hospital had “underlying diseases”.

The poisonings started  occur just days after Iran and China urged Afghanistan to lift restrictions on women's work and education. The two sides urged Afghan rulers to form an inclusive government in which all ethnic and political groups participate, as well as to repeal all discriminatory policies against women, ethnic minorities, and other religions.