reportedly circulated reminders to teachers and school administrators that the use of Kurdish and
Turkish languages inside public schools is forbidden.13 Furthermore, Kurdish language teachers
have faced harassment and persecution.14 15 Education in some minority languages, like
Kurdish, is available only through private classes, reducing the accessibility and affordability of
Kurdish education. Furthermore, private teachers are required to obtain a license from the state to
teach Kurdish, which places an additional barrier to private practice.
In 2016, reportedly up to 40,000 Ahwazi Arab children were denied access to education for
failing the Farsi language proficiency test, despite Farsi being their second language.16 In 2019,
Rezvan Hakim Zadeh, deputy of the regime’s elementary education department, announced that
the health assessment plan for pre-school children will include an evaluation of children’s level
of proficiency and comprehension in Persian. Children who fail to pass the assessment will not
be able to attend state kindergartens, which would severely limit access to pre-primary education
for children from ethnic minorities, such as Ahwazi Arabs, Turks, Kurds and Balochis, who will
be directed to an intensive training in the Farsi language.17 18
The lack of access to mother tongue education in primary and secondary schools remains a major
challenge in the Islamic Republic of Iran. This access at a young age is critical both to preserve
minorities’ distinct cultural identity, and to promote equality of opportunities. A lack of teaching
in children’s mother tongue has reportedly caused high school dropout and illiteracy rates,
notably among Azeri19 and Ahwazi Arab children.20
At the university level, the teaching in and of minority languages was non-existent until 2015. In
August 2016, however, participants were able, for the first time, to choose Kurdish and Turkish
languages as majors at the bachelor level.21 Yet, in practice, there has been no elementary,
middle school or high school in either the public or private education systems in Iran teaching
minority languages such as Turkish, Balochi or Kurdish. Consequently, opportunities for
individuals who wish to access those majors are limited as the teaching of minority languages at
school is inexistant. Reports documented a lawsuit against the Ministry of Education, initiated in
March 2018, in which the Court of Administrative Justice, ruled in March 2020, that the state is
13
Minority Groups, https://minorityrights.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Rights-Denied-Violations-against-ethnic-andreligious-minorities-in-Iran.pdf
14
Joint submission to the Human Rights Committee from All Human Rights for All in Iran, Association for Human Rights in
Kurdistan – Geneva, Association for the Human Rights of the Azerbaijani People in Iran, Iran Human Rights Documentation
Center, OutRight International, Siamak Pourzand Foundation, Small Media, Impact Iran, 2020,
https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CCPR/Shared%20Documents/IRN/INT_CCPR_NGO_IRN_42317_E.pdf
15
Radio Zamaneh: < https://www.radiozamaneh.com/519191>
16
UNPO, https://unpo.org/article/19590
17
ISNA News https://www.isna.ir/news/99031005237/
18
Dur Untash Studies Center, https://www.dusc.org/en/drasat/3966/
19
Association for the human rights of the Azerbaijani people in Iran,
https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CRC/Shared%20Documents/IRN/INT_CRC_NGO_IRN_19735_E.pdf
20
Center for Human Rights in Iran, https://www.iranhumanrights.org/2013/10/khuzestan-teachers/
21
Radio Farda: <https://www.radiofarda.com/a/f7-students-able-to-select-azari-and-kurdi-for-university/27919663.html >
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