Iran's education ministry is to make paramilitary training compulsory in girls' schools across the nation, the state news agency IRNA announced on Tuesday.
The training, to include self-defense, urban combat and first aid, is aimed at "improving the health of girls going through puberty and giving them more opportunities to be a part of social and cultural life," a ministry official told IRNA.
Girls make up 60 percent of Iran's 19 million-strong school population and last month Iranian authorities schoolgirls to wear bright colors for the first time since the 1979 revolution.
Earlier Tuesday, IRNA reported that six clerics had issued a religious decree allowing women to lead collective prayers in girls' schools, another first since the Islamic revolution which brought the clergy to power - TEHRAN (AFP)
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