Iran Bans Children From Learning Foreign Languages ​​Before Middle School – Liberation

Iran is retreating further into itself. The Iranian government announced on Tuesday, October 17, that younger students will be banned from learning foreign languages. The result appliesKindergarten, nursery schools and primary schools, because at this age the child's Iranian identity is formedMasoud Tehrani-Farjad, an official at the Ministry of Education, argued.

This ban”Applies not only to English but also to other languages ​​including Arabic», added Masoud Tehrani-Farjad. However, Iran's only official language, Farsi (or Persian), mandated by the constitution, is strongly influenced by Arabic but borrows from French and English.

Arabic is also recognized by the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran.The language of the Qur'an, science and Islamic knowledge“and”It should be taught in all classes and all disciplines after primary school and up to the end of the secondary cycle“.

In September, the Islamic Republic banned Iranian or dual-national students from studying in international schools, requiring Iranian children to follow the country's school curriculum. The decision led to a sudden influx of students in some schools in the capital, particularly French and German institutions.

These measures were a continuation of the political use of language teaching initiated by the mullahs' regime many years earlier. A previous measure that took effect in 2018 banned the teaching of English in primary school, although the language is taught in Iran from secondary school onwards.

Two years ago, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei gave a speech against the spread of the English language in his country, saying that “unhealthy” English should be the only major foreign language. “Does it make sense to promote their language with our money? He pretended to question the nation's Supreme Leader for 34 years about the tribe of the American “Great Satan.”