Severe environmental crisis in Ahwaz forces thousands of teachers to relocate

Ahwaz is experiencing a worsening environmental crisis due to air pollution caused by the burning of sugarcane fields and oil-related activities. This situation has led more than 4,000 teachers to submit requests for transfer to other regions.

Over the past four months, residents of Ahwaz have suffered from heavy smoke resulting from fires in the Hour al-Azim marsh. The situation deteriorated further with the start of the sugarcane harvest season, which involves burning.

According to Mohammad Javad Ashrafi, Secretary of the Ahwaz Air Pollution Control Committee, the region witnessed only 78 days of acceptable air quality out of 198 days during the first half of the year.

International reports have ranked Ahwaz among the most polluted cities in the world. Sediqeh Torabi, Vice President of the Environmental Organization, confirmed that 55% of the city’s days over the past three years were classified as “unhealthy.”

The environmental crisis has directly impacted education, as students began their school year with a two-hour delay due to pollution. Mohammad Reza Movahedzadeh, the military governor of Ahwaz, pointed out that the transfer requests submitted by thousands of teachers are a serious indicator of worsening conditions.

In the same context, Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences revealed that more than 100,000 pollution-related medical cases have been recorded since the beginning of the year—an increase of more than 70% compared to the previous period.

Environmental experts have also warned that the average concentration of pollutants in Ahwaz is ten times the permissible limit set by the World Health Organization.

Experts believe that the ongoing fires in Hour al-Azim, along with excessive reliance on oil and sugarcane, threaten to turn Ahwaz into a hub of environmental migration. They point to the possibility that tens of thousands of families may be forced to leave the region in the coming years if urgent measures are not taken to reduce pollution and protect the environment.

Human rights organizations accuse Iran of deliberate negligence in addressing the environmental disaster in Ahwaz, which only worsens the suffering of residents and drives them toward mass displacement.