The Basij, or "resistance force", is essentially a paramilitary militia of young volunteers, founded on the orders of Ayatollah Khomenei in 1979, in the hopes of building a people's army of about 20 million members.

Initially, these young volunteers were meant to complement the elite troops during the Iran-Iraq war, and thus become the “Chahid” (martyrs), tasked with paving the way for the Pasdaran, across landmine-dotted battlefields, to enemy lines.

In 1988, at the end of the war, Ali Khamenei decided not to dismantle the Basij, instead turning it into an internal security force and moral militia, to mentor disadvantaged and unemployed youth.

The Basij resistance force has been present in schools since its creation, although enrolment in this organization is optional. Among the first lessons given to children are a hatred for the United States and Israel.

The Basij are under the authority of the Revolutionary Guard Corps and directly dependent on the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. In 2010, some figures reported that 54,000 young people were spread across the country in 6,000 training centres called "resistance centres".

These pupils, who are responsible for monitoring their classmates and "spread the good word", receive military training in summer camps, led by the Pasdaran.

The age of enrolment in these paramilitaries is estimated to be, on average, 15 years old. In return for their services, the student Basij are awarded some benefits, such as the reduction of the duration of their compulsory military service, access to tests allowing them to partake in university studies, scholarships, and recruitment opportunities in government organizations. While, initially, most of these students were faithful to the religious beliefs and ideology of the Regime, they now seem to engage more by necessity than by conviction.

Sending teenagers to war zones is still commonplace in Iran. A November 2017 Human Right Watch report mentions the recruitment of Afghan children refugees among the Fatimid division, an Islamist militia trained by Iran to fight the opponents of the Shia, on the Syrian front.

In March of 2016, the General Director of the Ministry of Education said that Iranian schools represented "the best basis for the promotion of the culture of personal sacrifice and martyrdom", in the interest of the preservation of the values and culture of the Islamic Revolution...