Hundreds of girls poisoned in Iran to stop them from going to schools

Younes Panahi, a deputy health minister in Iran, claimed on Sunday that “certain persons” were poisoning schoolgirls in the holy city of Qom with the goal of eliminating girls’ access to education. According to Panahi, who was cited by the Iranian state news agency IRNA, “Following the poisoning of several kids in Qom schools, it was revealed that certain people wanted to close all schools, especially girls’ schools.”

In recent months, scores of schoolgirls have been hospitalised for respiratory poisoning, the majority of them are from Qom, south of Tehran. Parents have decided not to send their kids to school as a result of the epidemic of illnesses in schools.Recently, Nafiseh Moradi, an Islamic studies researcher at Tehran’s Al Zahra University, an all-female public university, stated her suspicion about the fact that the majority of girls have developed the same symptoms, with clear gender segregation.In the first occurrence, 18 schoolgirls in Qom who had been experiencing symptoms like nauseousness, headaches, coughing, breathing problems, heart palpitations, and tingling or discomfort in their hands or legs were sent to a hospital. Despite undertaking toxicology testing, authorities have not yet been able to identify the source of the strange wave of illness, even though dozens have gotten treatment.According to the Qom News site, 15 schoolgirls were sent to a hospital in Qom on February 22. Some believe that the strange surge of illnesses may have been started by religious fanatics who want to scare girls away from going to school.