Reactions to Education Ministry's Lawsuit Against 'Tehran Snake' Series: Derogatory and Media Propaganda

The lawsuit filed by the Ministry of Education against the producers of the series 'Tehran Snake', which addresses the issue of corporal punishment of students by teachers, has sparked reactions on social media. Some users, sharing personal accounts of physical violence in schools, have deemed this lawsuit derogatory and a form of media propaganda. According to reports from Iranian news agencies, Omid Rezavand, the legal director of the Ministry of Education, announced that the ministry has sued the creators of 'Tehran Snake', which is broadcast on home networks, and has requested its suspension. The reason for the lawsuit is cited as 'insulting the dignity and status of teachers' in one of the scenes. In part of this series, the main character, now an adult man, recalls his memories of physical violence from the school principal against students, and after threatening that principal to answer for 'all the beatings he gave to the children of the people', he forces him out of the car. While some teacher activists are imprisoned for advocating the rights of educators and students in the Islamic Republic, and some have been dismissed or face legal cases and arrests, the complaint from this government institution regarding the series as 'insulting the status of teachers' has faced reactions, with some labeling it as government propaganda. Among them, Mohammad Habibi, spokesperson for the Tehran Teachers' Association, described this lawsuit as 'merely a media propaganda' and wrote on social media platform X: 'No one has harmed the dignity and status of teachers and education as much as Sahraei has in these two years.' This activist, who has previously spent a long time in prison and has been dismissed from work, emphasized that Reza Morad Sahraei, the Minister of Education of the Islamic Republic, 'dismissed hundreds of teachers to replace them with security and clerical forces.' Additionally, a group of social media users reacted to the Ministry of Education's lawsuit against 'Tehran Snake' by recounting their personal experiences of corporal punishment in schools. One user, recalling a vivid memory from first grade, stated that when he was 'only seven years old', 'on the first day, the teacher took a Bic pen from his pocket and pressed it between the fingers of each of us from the first desk to the last, to the point of crushing our fingers.' He mentioned that for two years he witnessed 'weekly beatings of the soles of his feet with a cherry branch.' Ali Eghtesadi, who identifies himself as a capital market expert on his X account, stated: 'Tehran Snake showed something we witnessed and is part of our memories.' He also emphasized: 'A large part of our psychological problems stemmed from the damages we suffered from our broken education system.' Amir Kalhor, a journalist, also recounted his experiences in the schools of the Islamic Republic in Iran: 'We studied with belts, hoses, metal rulers, slaps, kicks, insults, and humiliation in schools, and when someone depicted part of this torture, it did not sit well with the Islamic Republic.' Mehdi Mousavi, a poet, stated, 'As someone who has taught for 30 years, I know well that there is not a single person from my generation who has not experienced physical and psychological torture from a teacher or witnessed it among friends.' Some users also emphasized that 'Tehran Snake is Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic.' Reza Saliani, a reformist activist, also questioned: 'Does the education system consider a teacher who uses physical violence against students, contrary to the law, to be noble and respectable and feel obliged to defend them?' He described the lawsuit against the creators of 'Tehran Snake' as 'fallacious and derogatory.' The lawsuit against this television series, which addresses the issue of physical violence against students in Iranian schools, comes at a time when the case of the months-long serial poisoning of students in schools across Iran remains open, and the perpetrators have not been identified. According to claims by a committee known as 'fact-finding' regarding the poisoning of students, 'in the case of students' malaise and poisoning, some acted with malice and used foul-smelling bombs available in the market.' Furthermore, during the widespread protests of 2022, government forces suppressed protesting students in schools, and several students were killed during the crackdown on protests by agents of the Islamic Republic. Additionally, there is still violent treatment of students in Iran, and just yesterday, a video was released of students protesting in Karaj in response to the beating of a student by the school principal.