Teaching Comparative Government and Politics

Tuesday, December 01, 2009

Public schools in a theocracy

If there's no separation of church and state in Iran, there should be no problem with prayer in schools.

The ruling elite does see a problem of un-Iranian activity in schools, though. Now, schools, like army units, are to get clerics assigned to them. It's not unlike the party cadres assigned to nearly any organized group or activity in China.

Fighting West’s sway, Iran’s clerics tighten grip on schools
Islamic religious authorities have begun tightening their grip on Iranian public schools... as hard-liners expand an ideological “soft war’’ against Western influence...

Authorities have recently emphasized the need to battle the reach of Western media, viewpoints, and culture - which resonate strongly in a country where nearly half the population was born after the 1979 Islamic Revolution...

Elementary classes were believed to be the focus of the nationwide plan.

It was not clear whether older students also would fall under clerical influence.

Earlier this month, Iranian officials announced plans to appoint a cleric in every school - a move widely seen as an effort to bring stricter Islamic interpretations into the public education system and to address growing divides between clerics and many young, secular-oriented Iranians.


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