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Shirzad Abdollahi

On the verge of the start of the 97-98 academic year, schools are facing shortages of teachers, lack of educational space, shortage of health counselors and coaches, overcrowded and substandard classrooms, teacher demotivation, failure to pay student fees to cover school expenses, financial corruption in the management of some government schools that receive money from parents, lack of an effective monitoring and evaluation system, and so on. The head of the Planning and Human Resources Center of the Ministry of Education and Training, in Ardibehesht 97, stated that the intensity of the shortage of personnel until 1399 will cripple education and training. He said, “Currently, in terms of human resources, we have a shortage of 300,000 and in terms of educational space, 60% of it needs renovation, demolition, and reconstruction.” He also spoke about how to meet these needs, saying, “We must overcome 194,000 of this shortage by not sending personnel to

But in this wave of media consultants, the Minister of Education and Training is trying to create a Twitter persona with intellectual slogans. The reality is that neither the current minister has such capacity, nor do these tweets and beautiful words and laughter and playing with glasses make one an intellectual. What’s more important is that these actions do not address our educational problems and do not untangle any of the knots. Of course, the beautiful slogans of Bat’ha’i, such as creating a happy school or teaching life skills (based on scattered information from the education systems of Finland and Japan) are not wrong. For example, if conditions are provided for our students to learn life skills and play sports instead of memorizing textbook material, that would be great; the issue is that the implementation of any slogan requires first and foremost the necessary resources and facilities. Being happy also requires resources. In a school where coercion, domination, poverty, and scarcity are prevalent, and the evidence is strict, violence is present, who

Of course, it is not necessary for an educational specialist or a journalist in the field of education, or even an ordinary citizen, to provide an overview of the desirable state of education and training, and for example, write about the quality of education and training in Finland and Japan. However, the work of the minister and his management team is executive. The minister is an executive official and his job is not theoretical. It is assumed that the minister has presented a plan to the parliament at the beginning of his ministry and now he must implement that plan step by step. What is common among managers in Iran – and perhaps in other places – is that when they feel incapable of performing their executive duties and cannot do anything, they become preachers, speakers, and poets, and they talk beautifully to distract the attention of the society. If you ask them why they give so many unrealistic slogans and why they are not focused on their own work, they say they want to create discourse! Creating discourse is not

If we don’t have imagination, these textbooks and these sad and troubled teachers and this religious education program of the educational deputy and these narrow spaces of 19th century schools and these financial constraints, the Twitter and Telegram gestures of the minister or the sign of ignorance of the school are either a deception of the public mind. For example, these days the minister and his deputies wherever they find a platform, they chant slogans against the educational mafia. Some on Twitter say: What a minister who is involved in fighting an 8 trillion rial mafia! In a society where corruption and embezzlement of government property to achieve ill-gotten wealth is sensitive, exposing a monster called the educational mafia is a natural reaction of groups of teachers, students and parents. But the slogan of fighting the mafia is mostly a promotional slogan to buy popularity and also to divert the attention of the audience from unfinished work and empty promises. By educational mafia, private institutions with government licenses that sell educational services are meant. For

Officials of education and training, in their speeches among teachers, say that the activities of these institutions have disrupted the official educational and training activities of the ministry. They probably have legal documents to support their claims. But why don’t they use their legal authority to revoke the licenses of these illegal institutions and even declare them as mafia-like? After revoking the licenses of institutions such as Gaj, Qalamchi, Mobtakaran, and others, the Ministry of Education can request the closure of these centers with the help of law enforcement forces. Law enforcement forces are also obligated to close these centers according to regulations. At some point, the minister may consider the existence of these institutions as detrimental to educational activities and believe that education and training should be the sole responsibility of the government. There is a solution for this as well. The Minister of Education can prepare a plan to dissolve private schools and non-governmental schools and present it to the cabinet, convincing the president and other ministers that the existence of

I am returning to the first issue of this note, which is about school with enthusiasm, without competition, without exams, without grades, without stress, etc. As usual, we exaggerate in everything. I believe that the education of children in all parts of the world is accompanied by varying degrees of discipline, assignments, exams, and competition. Even in Montessori schools, where they operate based on the satisfaction and willingness of the students, maintaining order is a fundamental principle. Now let’s go back to our schools. Should the teacher in the classroom focus on creating a lively atmosphere or teaching heavy textbooks and repetitive exercises? If a teacher suggests closing the textbook and managing the class according to the students’ wishes, will they accept it? If the school supervisor (deputy) faces the students with a smile and gentle voice instead of staring, shouting, and sometimes using a whip and threatening to lower their grades, can they maintain order? In our schools, there are detailed programs for mourning,