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Khamenei Bans English from Primary Schools

January 8, 2018
6 min read
Mehdi Navid Adham, Secretary General of the High Council of Education, confirmed that teaching English at primary schools had been banned
Mehdi Navid Adham, Secretary General of the High Council of Education, confirmed that teaching English at primary schools had been banned

The Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei has banned the teaching of English in Iranian schools, prompting the Ministry of Education to carry out surprise visits to ensure schools are complying with the directive.  

On Sunday, January 7, Mehdi Navid Adham, the Secretary General of the High Council of Education, confirmed the ban was in place. “Teaching the English language at public or private primary schools is prohibited, whether during school hours or afterward,” he told the news agency Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), adding that “action will be taken against violators.” He also said that the policy was meant to “support” the Persian language but did not offer any further specifics.

“I cannot imagine the reasons for this ban,” English teacher Mahmoud Alemi told IranWire. “What I do know is that the primary school age — meaning from five until age 10 or 12 — is the best age for learning a foreign language, and that those who learn another language at this age are much more successful at it. I am sorry if it happens that we only start teaching English at high school because by then it is too late to learn a language well.”

“Experts” Made the Decision

A staff member for the education ministry’s public relations office in Tehran told IranWire that the High Council of Education took the decision for the ban. “The criterion for executive decisions in education is set by the experts at the High Council of Education,” he said. “They must have decided that teaching a foreign language to primary school students is not beneficial to them.”

He did not provide further details either, but according to Samiee, a principal of a non-profit school in Tehran I spoke with, primary schools had received a directive from the Ministry of Education ordering the ban, saying that the ministry’s goal for primary education was to strengthen Iranian and Islamic culture and that teaching foreign languages is detrimental to this goal. “Half of the names of shops and shopping malls are in English,” said Samiee. “Menus in restaurants are all English. Doesn’t this harm Persian language and culture? But instead of dealing with that, they interfere in education.” The principal also pointed to the growing number of people around the world learning the English language. “English provides people with exceptional opportunities,” he said. 

He added that the directive was actually issued in 2015, but it had not been seriously enforced until 2017. “In the approved curriculum for primary education, foreign languages have no place,” Masoud Saghafi, a spokesman for the Ministry of Education, told Iranian Student’s News Agency (ISNA) in the spring of 2015. “Teaching English and foreign languages is banned and if a school does provide such services it will be considered a violation.” The ministry is responsible for revoking a school’s permit to operate if it is found to be teaching English. 

 

More Catholic than the Pope

Samiee is of the belief that the enforcement of the directive only became serious after the Supreme Leader raised the issue. In a speech to a group of teachers on May 2, 2016, Khamenei called the promotion of the English language in Iran “unhealthy” and a legacy of the monarchy. “In other countries, they pay attention to this issue,” he said. “They prevent the influence, interference and development of foreign languages. However, we have become more Catholic than the Pope himself!” He said not only had Iran allowed the subject to be taught in schools, but people had turned it into “ an exclusive language in our schools.” In addition, he said, “we are continuously bringing it to lower levels – to kindergartens and primary schools. Why is that?”

On May 4, however, during a speech marking Iran’s national Teacher’s Day, President Rouhani discussed the advantages of learning English. "Today,” he said, “because of its proficiency in English, the Indian subcontinent, with a population of more than 2 billion, appears to be greatly successful in the field of information technology.”

He spoke of his vision for learning languages in Iran. “Teaching foreign languages should become diversified and qualitative and we should learn any language that promotes knowledge in the country more deeply”, said Rouhani. He emphasized that this would provide more jobs for the young generation and would facilitate Iran’s economic relations with the world.

Khamenei Trumps Rouhani

In the end, Rouhani’s words did not have the impact they might have. Instead, it was the Supreme Leader’s speech that held weight and changed attitudes. According to Samiee, directly after the speech, Marzieh Gord, head of the Organization for Non-State Schools at the Ministry of Education, started to crack down on schools. “First they banned teaching foreign languages in classes that teach the [approved] curriculum,” he said. “We moved it to extra-curricular programs, but they banned this as well.” Samiee said inspectors from the Ministry of Education have repeatedly paid surprise visits to primary schools to catch violators. “We must not have classes for, say, music. We must not have English language classes,” he says. “But it is exactly for these extra-curricular activities that people send their kids to non-state schools.”

The High Council of Education has decided that teaching English can only begin in a student’s first year of high school — and not any sooner. “With their inefficient systems,” said English teacher Mahmoud Alemi, “high schools are unable to teach English effectively. If their system worked then whoever completes a high school diploma would be fluent in English after four years of learning. But, really, what percentage of high school graduates are fluent in English?”

While speaking to me about it, Alemi paused and then answered his own question. “Those who are fluent in English did not learn it at school,” he said. “They have gone to language classes as children or have been taught by private tutors.”

The “Clandestine” Activity of Learning English

In the last two years, Alemi has taught many primary-school students in a private capacity. “Families have noticed that learning English can make a huge difference in the future of their children,” he said. “That is why in recent years I have had so many primary school students to teach. These students have an extraordinary talent for learning languages. Sometimes I think that if I had learned English as a child I would have achieved my goals much sooner.”

Samiee has decided to get a permit to set up a center for teaching English. It was his intention to find a location near the school so students can attend and learn English without going to too much trouble. But now he is not sure that the Ministry of Education will grant him the permit. “It is too bad that we have to try a thousand things to bypass a law that is in nobody’s interest,” he said. “Perhaps in the future they will laugh at our students when they tell people that they had to learn English in secret.” 

He thought about this for a minute. “It is really funny, isn’t it?” he said after a short pause. But it seemed to me the word he’s looking for is absurd. 

 

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