Statement on education in Iran

The existence of a scientific, humane, progressive and non-commodified education system is a fundamental condition of any free and humane society. In Iran, under the rule of the Islamic Republic, education has been torn away from its essential foundations: science, inquiry, critique and questioning; the development of personality and self-confidence; and the intellectual growth of children. The effort of the ruling system is to mould children into Islamised, superstitious, backward, obedient beings, prepared for martyrdom. This system stands against the values and achievements humanity has attained in creative and scientific education; it is a system for the destruction of children’s personalities and minds, and constitutes an open crime against children and society as a whole. This catastrophe lays bare all the characteristics of the ruling Islamic reaction and its alienation from Iranian society in its various dimensions and aspects. Only through the overthrow of this regime can this situation be transformed from its roots.

Islamic education is the enemy of children!

The foundation of a humane education system is the teaching of the latest scientific achievements across all disciplines; the creation of equal learning opportunities regardless of families’ economic and social status; respect; the strengthening of self-confidence and self-belief; the development of initiative and creativity; the nurturing of a critical and questioning spirit; intellectual independence; the growth of personality; the cultivation of open-mindedness and egalitarian, anti-discriminatory ideas; and the promotion of collective activity and social responsibility. The education system of the Islamic Republic stands at the exact opposite pole of all this and is a full-scale disaster.

The education system of the Islamic Republic destroys children’s self-belief and confidence; through the imposition of religious curricula, ideology and superstition, and the promotion of terrorist policies in the region, it brainwashes children, strips them of critical and questioning capacities, and crushes their thought and courage. Gender segregation in schools and the rule of gender apartheid deprive pupils of the beautiful human emotions of childhood. It imposes compulsory hijab on female pupils and even deprives them of the most basic sporting and recreational facilities. It turns sexual identity and sex education into taboos; through Islamic, gender-apartheid-based textbooks it teaches children discrimination, dogma and superstition; it drags them into religious ceremonies and politico-religious camps and even exploits them for repressive purposes. This system denies pupils joy, music and dance, and imposes mourning, grief and an atmosphere of tears. To all this must be added numerous cases of humiliation and even physical punishment of pupils. The situation is far more shocking for pupils who, such as those with disabilities, require special support, and in regions such as Sistan and Baluchestan, Kurdistan and Lorestan. This situation must be transformed in a radical and fundamental way.

Commodification of education and the class-based stratification of schooling

The commodification and monetisation of education, and the domination of corrupt governmental mafia gangs over the education system, constitute another grave problem facing the majority of Iranian society, resulting in millions of children being pushed out of education altogether. Covering the heavy costs of schooling for a population that has largely been driven into absolute poverty has become a major crisis. Another face of this tragedy is the growth of private schools with exorbitant fees, the allocation of a very meagre budget to public education, the low quality of education in state schools, and phenomena such as the university entrance-exam mafia and other forms of corruption.

Alongside the commercialisation of education, state schools are unsafe, lack educational equipment, and provide extremely limited educational spaces compared to global standards. The appalling decline in acceptance rates of pupils from most state schools compared to private and “Sampad” schools—particularly over the past decade—has been the direct result of these policies and the deep class divide, and in turn has intensified that divide. A process that worsens year after year.

Repression and struggle

The Islamic Republic has responded to the protests of pupils and teachers against these conditions with the most brutal repression. It has killed, poisoned, imprisoned and tortured many pupils, and has dismissed, imprisoned or executed many teachers. This immense crime began with the very establishment of the Islamic Republic, has intensified profoundly over the past one or two decades, and has imposed appalling conditions on society.

Despite all the efforts of the Islamic Republic—despite disenfranchisement, repression, arrests and torture—teachers and pupils have stood against this system. Religion has lost its authority in schools, and the entire education system has been exposed and disgraced. Teachers demand scientific, non-ideological and non-commodified education. Pupils, at various levels, ridicule clerics and preachers in schools and are rising ever more openly against religion and religious sanctities.

What does the Worker-communist Party say?

Given Iran’s human and financial resources, Iranian society has the capacity to establish a humane, free, high-standard, modern, creative and joyful education system with adequate facilities for all pupils and children of school age. High-quality educational resources and facilities must be made equally available to all pupils across the country.

Let us turn the following demands into banners of struggle against the Islamic regime, and resolutely defend a humane, modern and scientific education that guarantees the growth and flourishing of our children:

1. Free education

• Compulsory, universal and free public education up to the end of secondary school, and the dismantling of the commodified education system. Pupils in all cities and villages must have access to a high-quality education system. Equal access to learning opportunities is the right of all pupils.
• Free textbooks and stationery for all pupils at all levels.
• All schools must be equipped with adequate educational facilities, including laboratory, digital and other resources.
• Establishment of canteens in all schools and provision of one high-quality, free hot meal for pupils at all levels of education.
• Provision of free school transport services accessible to all pupils.
• Eradication of illiteracy and continuous raising of the level of scientific and technical knowledge of the population. Education is the right of all people, and access to education and training must be completely independent of family income.
• Encouragement of pupils who have been forced to drop out at various levels to return to education, and the creation of the necessary facilities for them to continue their studies, including the provision of livelihoods during the period of study. In this context, special planning for the return to education of working and street children.
• Education in one’s mother tongue is the right of all pupils. Facilities for mother-tongue education must be established for all pupils across the country.

2. Remove religion from education

• Complete separation of religion from education. The teaching of religious subjects, religious rulings, or religious interpretations of topics in schools and educational institutions must be prohibited. All laws and regulations that violate the principle of non-religious education, and all manifestations of the Islamic Republic’s ideological policies—such as compulsory hijab, the promotion of a culture of martyrdom, the propagation of terrorism and similar practices—must be banned in schools and removed from textbooks. The presence of clerics and Islamic propagandists in schools, and the handing over of schools to religious institutions and mosques, must be ended.
• Prohibition of gender segregation in all schools and at all levels of education. Separating pupils on the basis of gender is a cruel and grave injustice against pupils.
• Replacement of current Islamic and backward textbooks with new textbooks containing scientific content in line with the most advanced global standards. Elimination of all ethnic, national, racial, religious and chauvinistic prejudices from textbooks. Teaching of the humanities and social sciences—removed or fully Islamised under the Islamic Republic—based on the latest scientific achievements.
• Sex education must be a compulsory subject in schools, with age-appropriate instruction provided to pupils. This includes bodily differences between boys and girls; the importance of respecting one’s own body and that of others; recognition of diverse gender identities and orientations; topics such as puberty, reproduction, sexual health and emotional and sexual relationships; prevention of unwanted pregnancy; sexually transmitted diseases; concepts of consent and individual rights; and the importance of healthy relationships and respect for personal and social boundaries.

3. Provision of adequate educational facilities

• Renovation and equipping of schools, and construction of new schools to high building standards in sufficient numbers across the country—especially in rural and deprived areas where pupils currently study in containers, huts and similar conditions. Immediate closure of dilapidated and unsafe schools. All schools must be fully safe and equipped with secure heating and cooling systems.
• The number of pupils in each class must not exceed 20.
• Creation of modern, joyful and creative environments, and allocation of sufficient facilities and space for sporting, recreational, scientific and educational activities in schools, as well as extracurricular activities and recreational, scientific, educational and sporting trips.

4. Teachers

• The shortage of hundreds of thousands of teachers, the meagre wages and job insecurity faced by many, the repression of freedom of expression and organisation for teachers and pupils, systematic surveillance, and the existence of over ten million illiterate people in the country reflect only a fraction of the shocking and painful reality of education under the Islamic Republic.
• Provision of adequate wages, welfare facilities and leave for all teachers. Teachers must be able to devote themselves to educating children with physical and mental well-being and peace of mind.
• Allocation of specially trained teachers for pupils with physical or mental special needs, and provision of diverse educational facilities for these pupils.
• Raising the quality of teacher-training universities and colleges, and providing periodic training courses for teachers to update their scientific knowledge based on the latest scientific and technological advances and educational achievements in other countries.

5. Rights and freedoms of pupils

• Prohibition of all forms of abuse of pupils in schools and educational institutions.
• Absolute prohibition of corporal punishment.
• Prohibition of psychological pressure, abuse and intimidation of pupils.
• Respect for pupils and trust in them, and continuous efforts to develop pupils’ self-confidence, creativity, intellectual independence and social awareness are the primary conditions of a humane and modern education.
• Unconditional freedom of expression, belief and protest, and freedom of questioning, critique and opinion for pupils and teachers. Any form of ideological vetting or surveillance of teachers and pupils is prohibited.
• Freedom of pupils’ and teachers’ organisations, and their right to intervene freely in all matters related to school management and educational programmes. Schools must be run on a council-based model.
• Close cooperation between schools and pupils’ families; keeping families informed about school conditions; freedom to establish civic associations and bodies to oversee schools.
• To realise all these demands, sufficient budgetary resources must be allocated to education.

Worker-communist Party of Iran
20 September 2024

AI-assisted translation, from the original Farsi