Kamangir (Archer)

Education: A Fashion or A Necessity?

Kamangir | October 16, 2005 | Category Iran

At the first days of Iranian revolution, many top politicians believed and asserted that expertise is not an important conditions for people responsible for official affairs, even for engineers and doctors. What they assumed to be really necessary was loyalty and devotion to what they assumed to be the aims of the revolution. And they did what they did. I was once reading an article about Rejaii (assumed to be the first president of IRI, after the actual first president Banisadr who had to flee the country for his life). The writer believed that Rejaii was so lucky to be assassinated that soon (after a few months)! At least it was never known publicly how illiterate he was for being a president.
So they understood that it is important to have education. At least for being able to give suggestions that do work. Guess what they did afterwise! There was (and is) lots of money spent on educating government figures in cheap universities in and outside Iran. See here if you know Persian for a sample case talked about by a key figure of their own flock. Briefly, they invented an university called Islamic Azad (means free) University (see). There are also other more prestigious versions of that in Iran. As an other example, when it was found out that an internationally unknown university called Hawaii University is doing some strange things in Iran, it was also learned that many key figures of judiciary have been customers of that same institute! Is it strange to know that nobody wants to investigate the actions of that university now? The head of judiciary in Tehran (the man seen here) was one of their special graduates!
It is more understood in Iran that education is more a fashion than a necessity. Not just for the man in the street, but also for politicians.