RoydadNaft –  The chief executive of the National Iranian South Oil Company said support for education and students is part of the oil industry’s approach to sustainable development and neighboring communities, adding that more than 6 trillion tomans in social-responsibility projects have been carried out in Iran’s southern oil-producing regions since the start of the 14th government.

According to Roydad Naft, citing NISOC, Ramin Hatami spoke at a ceremony to donate educational aid from the oil industry. He said sustainable development sits alongside production as a priority and that the rights of stakeholders — especially communities around oil facilities — are a central part of that effort.

Hatami said people living near the oil fields should benefit from the wealth and resource development in their region and should feel the industry’s presence in better living conditions.

In addition to centralized programs by the National Iranian Oil Company, he said, more than 6 trillion tomans in social-responsibility projects have been pursued and completed since the 14th government took office, especially in infrastructure around oil facilities and neighboring communities.

Education is a key part of sustainable development, he said. Officials believe effective steps must be taken in schooling for oil-region communities, both by building and completing classrooms and by raising the quality of education.

Hatami said 18,000 educational-aid packages were donated ahead of the new school year. The aid is meant to cover part of the needs of underserved communities and to give students hope and motivation, while showing that government agencies and the oil industry are standing with them.

Support for education and students is part of the oil industry’s work with surrounding communities and will continue with closer coordination, he said.

In line with the Oil Ministry’s focus on school-building as a social-responsibility program, NIOC’s unit supervising civil projects in the oil regions now has 2,190 schools on its agenda, with funding of 7.2 trillion tomans. Of those, 1,087 projects have been completed and 1,103 projects, worth 5 trillion tomans, are under construction.