The Painting Major Will Not Be Removed from Vocational School Curriculum

The Director General of Culture and Islamic Guidance of Tehran Province announced that, based on an agreement between the Ministries of Culture and Education, the 'Painting' major will not be removed from the vocational school curriculum. Barzin Zarghami stated on Tuesday, April 25, that this decision was made following negotiations between Ali Jannati, the Minister of Culture, and Ali Asghar Fani, the Minister of Education. Zarghami mentioned, 'Considering the foundational nature of such courses and their reference value, it was decided that in the revisions, the Painting major would remain among the subjects in vocational schools as before.' On April 17, the newspaper Shargh reported the existence of a letter from Barzin Zarghami addressed to Sharifi Ghaderi, the Director General of the Office of Education and Development of Artistic Activities at the Ministry of Culture, regarding the removal of the Painting major from the vocational curriculum. According to the newspaper's report, the letter stated that 'some specialized majors in the field of visual arts, including Painting, have been removed from the vocational schools by the Ministry of Education.' In his letter, the Director General of Culture in Tehran requested that officials from the Ministry of Education 'follow up on the matter through necessary correspondence and negotiations.' Following the publication of this news, a group of Iranian artists protested the changes to some vocational subjects and the removal of the Painting major by collecting signatures to send a letter to the Ministers of Culture and Education. In their letter, these artists warned that this action would cause serious damage to the art sector in the country and, in the long run, would lead to the destruction of the foundations of art in the country. With the increase in protests against this decision, Mostafa Azarkish, the Director General of Vocational Education at the Ministry of Education, announced that 'there is no cause for concern regarding the removal of the Painting major.' The majors and curricula of humanities in educational centers in Iran have undergone significant changes since 2009 at the request and directive of Ali Khamenei, and these changes continue. As part of these changes, which seem to have spread from universities to schools, Esfandiar Chaharbond, the Director General of Education in Tehran, announced last December that registration for the humanities major would be prohibited. Chaharbond stated at that time that from 2016, there would be no registration for the humanities major in regular public schools, a decision that faced significant protests in Iran. According to this decision by the Ministry of Education, it was decided that students wishing to pursue the humanities major would register in cultural high schools. This education official explained that 'until today, the development of higher education has given misleading signals to educational guidance, but today, the Ministry of Education must take the helm.' Three days after this statement and the increase in protests, the Ministry of Education issued a statement denying the prohibition of students from registering for the humanities major starting in 2016. The ministry stated in its announcement that 'no decision has been made regarding the prohibition of students studying in the humanities major in regular public schools.'