Education Ministry Grants Curriculum License to Schools with 'Quran-Centric Approach'

The head of the Organization of Non-Governmental Schools and Centers of the Ministry of Education announced that the 'Quran-Centric Schools Plan' has recently been approved, but the directive has not yet been sent to the provinces. According to the government news agency ISNA, Ahmad Mahmoudzadeh claimed that the demand for these types of schools is very high and that 'the charter and scientific and specialized guidelines for this plan are being drafted to precisely define its educational and training dimensions.' However, he announced that no license has been issued for another plan known as 'Mosque-Centric Schools,' and 'the focus is solely on Quran-Centric schools.' He also claimed that there are about 'ten million Quran memorizers' in the country and that some private schools will include Quranic education in their extracurricular programs. Mahmoudzadeh added that licenses for the operation of these Quran-Centric schools will be issued, and their curricula will align with the educational system. He promised that these schools could expand their Quranic activities during non-curricular extracurricular hours using specialized teachers. The expansion of ideological educational programs in private schools, which are run by the private sector and high tuition fees, typically covers children from the elite government classes, including military personnel. Meanwhile, the number of out-of-school children in the outskirts of major cities and deprived areas is rapidly increasing. Additionally, the lack of educational space is one of the crises facing the Ministry of Education, to the extent that students are forced to study in schoolyards or in non-standard pre-fabricated cabins. The dangerous situation of student transportation in Zahedan due to the lack of school buses has also been highlighted. Saba Alaleh stated that schools in Iran have become a base for the government to suppress students, and there is collusion between schools and ministry inspectors to collect tuition from parents.