The Motion to Impeach the Minister of Education Submitted to the Parliamentary Board with 40 Signatures

The spokesperson for the Education and Research Commission of the Parliament announced that the representatives who initiated the impeachment of the Minister of Education were not satisfied with his explanations, and this impeachment has been submitted to the Parliamentary Board with 40 signatures. Mir-Hossein Mirzadeh stated on Sunday, October 4, to the Fars News Agency that it is unlikely that the impeachment proponents will retreat from their position, and the impeachment seems 'certain.' If the impeachment of the Minister of Education is accepted by the Parliamentary Board, the impeachment session will be held 10 days after the acceptance of the motion. The 'decrease in educational efficiency' is cited as the primary reason for the impeachment of the Minister of Education, with representatives stating that teachers and students 'lack motivation and have sometimes suffered from depression.' Other reasons for the impeachment of Ali Asghar Fani include 'lack of proper and new planning in educational, cultural, and physical education issues in the fight against cultural invasion,' 'neglect of rural schools,' 'non-implementation of the fundamental document for educational transformation,' and 'non-implementation of the coordinated salary payment system.' Additionally, 'political and factional views in management appointments and dismissals' and 'lack of transparency in the financial issues of the Cultural Fund' are also cited as reasons for the impeachment. Some conservative representatives, including Mohsen Kouhkan from Lenjan, Javad Karimi Qodosi from Mashhad, and Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh from Dasht-e Azadegan, have signed the impeachment motion. In contrast, some members of the Hope Fraction in Parliament, including Shahaboddin Beigzadeh from Tabriz and Mohammad Qasim Othmani from Boukan, are also among the signatories of this motion. Mohammad Reza Aref, the head of the Hope Fraction, had previously stated that this fraction does not support the impeachment of the Minister of Education. However, on Saturday, October 3, he mentioned that some of the reasons for the impeachment of the Minister of Education are 'demands' from teachers. He stated that problems should be resolved through interaction with the government, adding that 'the issue of impeaching any individual in the Hope Fraction has not been ruled out.' Aref also described some of the problems in the Ministry of Education as managerial issues. In contrast, Masoud Pezeshkian, the Deputy Speaker of Parliament, opposed the impeachment of the Minister of Education on Sunday, stating that 'the cause of the current unfavorable situation in education is its structure, not the minister.' According to the House of the Nation website, Pezeshkian noted that '98 percent' of the Ministry of Education's budget is spent on teachers' salaries, adding: 'Should the officials perform miracles with the remaining 2 percent?' He continued: 'If it becomes clear that the minister has not been able to effectively utilize the resources at his disposal and act according to the plan, he should certainly be questioned. However, when we know that the budget of this ministry is very inadequate, we must ask what he could have done with the existing funds that he did not do.' The impeachment of the Minister of Education has been submitted to the Parliamentary Board amid recent discussions about an 'embezzlement of 8 trillion tomans' in the Cultural Fund. Mostafa Naseri Zanjani, the Deputy Minister of Education, confirmed on Sunday, September 14, in response to the publication of these reports, that some individuals have been arrested in this regard, but stated that 'nothing has yet been proven as a violation' in this fund. The Minister of Education had previously been impeached in July 2015 during the ninth Parliament, but only 76 representatives supported his impeachment, while 167 representatives opposed it, allowing Mr. Fani to remain in his position.