Training
The primary school comprises 8 years (6-14). After a
5-year compulsory compulsory school follows a 3-year
orientation stage. This is based on two types of 4-year
secondary schools, one university preparation and the other
vocational preparation. Iran has 29 universities and 12
research institutes (1990). The education is free of charge
in compulsory school and university, while a smaller fee is
charged in the continuing school. Textbooks are free during
the first four years.
Major changes in the school system - which since the
Second World War had been built on the American model - were
implemented after the Islamic Revolution of 1979. An
literacy campaign began in 1981. Illiteracy has dropped from
58% (1975) to 30% (1994), but regional differences are
significant as well. those between men (78% literate) and
women (64%). The number of schools has increased strongly,
mainly due to the increase in population. Between 1971 and
1989 the number of pupils increased from 4.5 million to 12.9
million. During the same period, the allocations to the
school system were fairly constant at between 15 and 18% of
the state budget. School systems have become more practical,
and according to the Chinese model, vocational schools and
an association of theory and practice are emphasized. Since
1979, the Islamization of the school system has been
significant, and Islam is being studied at all levels.
1997 A small jerk to the west
At the election held on May 23, 1997, 90% of voters
voted. Mohammad Khatami, who was considered the most
Western-oriented, won the election with 69% of the vote. A
new government joined in August, and Khatami announced a
greater openness to the West. The legal decision to seize
the influential Ayatolah Hussein Ali Montazeri's funds was
evidence of a sharpened power struggle within the clergy.
Montazeris supported the new president and was a critic of
the country's spiritual leader, Khamenei. In a number of
Iranian cities, support demonstrations were held in favor of
Khamenei, and this was confirmed in his post. Montazeris had
criticized the spiritual leader for maintaining an apparatus
of power in parallel with the government and intervening in
state affairs.
At the Islamic Conference in Tehran in December 1997,
Israel was criticized for its "expansive policy". The
conference's statement also condemned " terrorism ". This
was assessed as supporting Khatami in the struggle for power
in Iran.
On the International Women's Day on March 8, 1998,
Iranian Vice President Masoume Ebtekar criticized the
women's repression in Afghanistan under Islamic Taliban
rule. Unlike the development of the conservative Muslim
countries, the Iranian women have the right to vote and
occupy more and more responsible positions.
In November, a wave of murders aimed at dissident writers
and politicians began. An official investigation revealed
that officials at the Department of Intelligence were
involved in the killings. This intensified the struggle for
power between reformists and hard-line supporters. In
February 1999, it prompted President Khatami to propose
Attorney General Ali Yunesi as new intelligence minister.
After six days of student demonstrations in July 1999 in
favor of the reopening of a closed daily and major
liberalizations, the Orthodox sectors gathered hundreds of
thousands of protesters in support of the Mullahs and the
"revolutionary values". Alí Khamenei sent a greeting to the
demonstration, recommending the harshest sanctions against
the opposition. Religious leader and spokesman for
Parliament Hasan Rowhani declared that the arrested
participants in student demonstrations should be sentenced
to death. At the same time, the Orthodox sectors stated that
the United States was behind the unrest.
A few days later, President Khatami made a journey
through the province as a counter-offensive to the Orthodox.
He repeatedly took the opportunity to declare that he would
keep his promise from the campaign to defend civil rights,
despite attacks by religious leaders who accused him of
triggering the worst riots since the beginning of the 1979
Islamic revolution.
The February 2000 parliamentary elections were a major
victory for the reform wing led by Khatami, who captured 226
of Parliament's 290 seats. In March, the Hammihan
daily printed the flag of the United States, which
was the first time since the 1979. Revolution Although no
specific law forbids the publication of this particular
flag, Hammihan's action was nonetheless perceived as a
violation of a taboo.
After two years of negotiations, in April 2001, Iran and
Saudi Arabia signed an agreement regulating the patrol of
the common border cooperation between the police of both
countries. Tehrán and Riyadh also agreed to fight terrorism,
drug trafficking and organized crime.
A month later, the name of the street Jaled Eslamboli was
changed to "the martyrs of the Intifada," and the main
obstacle to full resumption of diplomatic relations with
Egypt was thus removed. The street had hitherto paid tribute
to the assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat - who
had made peace with Israel - and it had been a source of
friction between the two countries. The first contact
between the two states 'heads of state took place in June
2000, when Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak called Khatami
to congratulate him on the decision to join the
non-developed countries' alliance.
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