A Clerical Official: Female Students and Clerical Soldiers are Present in Schools

The Secretary of the Collaboration Headquarters of the Seminary and Education has reported the presence of "female clerics" in schools as elementary teachers in line with the "Islamic transformation" of education, stating that "clerical soldiers" are also present in schools. Hamid Nikzad told the "Didban Iran" website that families have over 95% satisfaction with the presence of clerics in schools and claimed that clerics have reduced delinquency rates in schools. According to Nikzad, the women's seminary teaches specialized courses including "Religious Education for Children and Adolescents", "Jurisprudence of Religious Education for Children and Adolescents", and "Transformation of Religious Belief for Children and Adolescents" to prepare them for elementary teaching. The "Didban Iran" website raised a question regarding the necessity of clerics in education, responding that "Islamization of education" is a topic that has been on the agenda of the Islamic Republic of Iran following the Islamization of humanities. Accordingly, it has been reported that the presence of clerics in schools has been pursued seriously since the "rise of the Ibrahim Raisi government", with actions taken for this purpose. Statistics published about the presence of clerics in schools indicate that more than 3,000 clerics have entered schools across the country since 2022. The "Didban Iran" website stated that the activities of these clerics go beyond just being "educational teachers", as they teach in various subjects from Persian and English languages to experimental and human sciences under the framework of "specific work contracts". The approach of clerics' involvement in education has been strengthened under Raisi's government, and former Minister of Education Youssef Nouri declared his priority during the confidence vote for the Ministry of Education as "a leap towards a new Islamic civilization and nurturing a civilization-building generation". The protests of 2022 and the prominent presence of students, especially female students, disrupted the equations of the Islamic Republic and the then Minister of Education to the extent that Nouri requested help from the seminary to change students' beliefs, stating: "We must increase our interaction and connection with mosques and external institutions like the seminary." Now, it seems that during the tenure of Minister Reza Morad Sahraei, the same policy of the previous minister, which is the Islamic Republic's educational policy, is being pursued, and the issue extends beyond the presence of clerics and seminary students in schools. The Secretary of the Collaboration Headquarters of the Seminary and Education has stated that determining and introducing representatives of the seminary to the Research and Curriculum Planning Organization of the Ministry of Education in eleven learning areas is among these actions of the seminary. Analysts believe these statements have only one meaning: the involvement of the seminary in the formulation of textbooks and the creation of changes desired by Ali Khamenei. Changing the content of textbooks has been a concern of the Supreme Leader for years. Ali Khamenei has repeatedly expressed sensitivity regarding the content of textbooks and has called for a review of the content of educational materials. In May 2022, during a meeting with a group of teachers and educators from across the country, he stated that "useless content in textbooks must be removed."