On Sunday morning, October 16, in a ceremony attended by the head of the Supreme Leader's Office, the head of the EIKO Board of Directors, the caretaker and deputies of EIKO, minister of education and nurturing, and the managing directors of Barakat Foundation and Tadbir Foundation, as well as the heads of the Headquarters for Equipping and Reconstruction of Schools in 31 provinces of the country, attended the opening ceremony for 150 new Barakat Schools.

The head of the Supreme Leader's Office in the ceremony congratulated the birth anniversary of Prophet Muhammad (P) and Imam Jaafar Sadeq (P), reiterating, "Fine personality traits, being mild-tempered and the behavior of the Messenger of Allah (P), must be the pattern of behavior for all of us; we are proud to be the followers of Imam Sadeq (P) as Shi'a Muslims; unity, solidarity being together, and inseparable are the dire needs of our country today, since if we will pursue this objective the enemies cannot do a damned thing.

Ayatollah Mohammadi-Golpayegani referred to the continuous opening of Barakat Schools all over Iran, arguing, "The enemy is not pleased with the nurturing of scientists and learned people in this country, but the Iranian nation should be the pioneers in this field, since the enemy wishes to keep this country backward, as it was during the corrupt Pahlavi regime."

He added that the Execution of Imam Khomeini Order (EIKO) has thus far constructed 1,950 schools in the country and this blessed trend will continue.

The head of the Supreme Leader's Office reiterated, "I appreciate and thank the EIKO managers for the broad services they have offered in order to uproot poverty in the country."

The EIKO caretaker, too, said in the ceremony, "The EIKO is commissioned in tough and winding roads, and tries its best to perform its missions perfectly well."

Elaborating on the opening ceremony, Aref Nowruzi said, "After the opening of these 150 new Barakat Schools, with their 582 classrooms, 14,500 students in 14 provinces and 65 townships will be enrolled in these new schools this year."

"5,000 billion rials is invested for construction of these schools," he added.

Nowruzi also informed that the Barakat Foundation had accepted the responsibility to construct 2,700 schools, which will God willing be delivered to the Education and Nurturing Ministry by the end of the next summer.

The minister of education and nurturing, too, said in the ceremony, "We have 5,000 martyred teachers and 36,000 martyred students in this country; before the victory of the Islamic Revolution each student's share of the educational spaces was 1.5 square meters, which is increased to 5.2 square meters, that is more than tripled, that must reach 8.3 square meters in accordance with the Fundamental Educational Development Document."

Minister Yusof Nuri added, "The foundations and philanthropists, atop which there is the Execution of Imam Khomeini Order (EIKO) and the Barakat Foundation, have been our assistants in school building; the construction of schools by the EIKO and equipping and renovation of them greatly affect the students' learning process and the blossoming of their talents; the Ministry of Education and the EIKO have accomplished many objectives in the software and hardware fields."

The managing director of Barakat Foundation, too, said at the opening ceremony and putting to use of 150 Barakat Schools, "So far 1,800 Barakat Schools have been opened, that the share of the EIKO in those projects has been investing 10,000 billion rials."

Mohammad Torkamaneh added, "Today, 150 other schools will be opened in which 14,500 students will be enrolled; most of these schools are constructed in deprived districts and we have tried to expand the dimensions of educational justice."

He reiterated that the Barakat Foundation has accepted the commitment to construct 2,700 schools with 13,500 classrooms for 340,000 students in 4,000 villages under its supportive umbrella.

At the end of the ceremony in a videoconference and with the order of the head of the Supreme Leader's Office, a number of those 150 Barakat Schools were opened in five provinces of the country.