Rouhani's Government Directive for Teaching Local Languages in Schools

Ali Yunusi, special assistant to Hassan Rouhani on ethnic and religious minorities, announced the government's directive to the Ministry of Education for the teaching of local Kurdish and Turkish languages in several Kurdish and Turkish regions of Iran. On Tuesday, June 1, the official news agency of the Islamic Republic reported that these two local languages will be taught to students in schools in areas where they are the primary languages of the local population. He added that this plan has been implemented in schools in Kurdistan province and will be extended to other regions of the country 'if the infrastructure is provided.' He also praised the teaching of Kurdish language and literature at the University of Kurdistan, which began during Rouhani's presidency. In this context, President Hassan Rouhani, during his visit to the Kurdish city of Mahabad in West Azerbaijan province, promised that his government would establish mother tongue education centers in several cities across Iran. Rouhani stated on Tuesday that 'centers will be established in Kurdistan, East Azerbaijan, West Azerbaijan, Ardabil, etc., where people can learn their mother tongue well.' According to him, the government is negotiating with the Ministry of Education to implement this plan, which is referenced in Article 15 of the Islamic Republic's Constitution. According to Article 15, 'The official and common language and script of the people of Iran is Persian. Official documents and correspondence, as well as textbooks, must be in this language and script, but the use of local and ethnic languages in the press and media and the teaching of their literature in schools, alongside Persian, is free.' During the presidential election, Rouhani had also promised to implement the official teaching of the mother tongues of various Iranian ethnic groups, including Kurdish, Azerbaijani, and Arabic, in schools and universities. This plan faced opposition from some members of the Academy of Persian Language and Literature but eventually began as a pilot program in a school in Saqqez, Kurdistan, in March 2015. The teaching of Kurdish language and literature at the University of Kurdistan and the allocation of part of the Persian literature curriculum for the first to third grades of secondary education to Kurdish content are other actions of Rouhani's eleventh government to fulfill his promises regarding the rights of Iranian ethnic groups in the Constitution.