Iran has banned the teaching of English in primary schools to stop the spread of a “cultural invasion” from the west, a senior education official said.
“Teaching English in government and non-government primary schools in the official curriculum is against laws and regulations,” Mehdi Navid-Adham, head of the state-run high education council, told state television.
“The assumption is that in primary education the groundwork for the Iranian culture of the students is laid,” he said.
While the teaching of English generally starts in middle school in Iran – which students attend around the ages of 12 to 14 – some primary schools below that age also have English classes.
Some children also attend private language institutes after their school day, whilst children from more privileged families attending non-government schools receive English tuition.
Iran’s Islamic leaders have often warned about the dangers of a “cultural invasion”, and in 2016 Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who holds the final say in all state matters, expressed fury about the “teaching of the English language spreading to nursery schools”.
Khamenei said in a speech to teachers: “That does not mean opposition to learning a foreign language, but this is the promotion of a foreign culture in the country and among children, young adults and youths.”
> Shiuly Akter
