Table of Contents

• EDUCATION iii. THE TRADITIONAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

  Jalīl Dūstḵᵛāh and Eqbāl Yaḡmāʾī

  Before the establishment of a modern educational system in Persia,  children received their early and intermediate education in the maktab (or maktab-ḵāna, lit., “place of writing”) under the tutelage of an āḵūnd, mulla (clerical teacher), or moʿallem (teacher).

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• EDUCATION iv. THE MEDIEVAL MADRASA

  Christopher Melchert

  lit., “place to study” Ar. darasa “to study”. It was a college for the professional study of the Islamic sciences, particularly jurisprudence (feqh) but also the Koran, Hadith, and such ancillary fields as Arabic grammar and philology, knowledge of which helped in understanding sacred and legal texts.

• EDUCATION v. THE MADRASA IN SHIʿITE PERSIA

  ʿAbbās Zaryāb

  After the introduction of the institutionalized madrasa by Neẓām-al-Molk in the late 11th century, above) Shiʿite madrasas were also founded in Persia and Iraq. These schools were local efforts, however, and did not constitute a unitary system of education.

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• EDUCATION vi. THE MADRASA IN SUNNI KURDISTAN

  ʿAbd-Allāh Mardūḵ

  Every mosque also contained a chamber called a ḥojra, where the mulla offered lessons in religion and theology free of charge to Muslim boys. Boys, though very seldom girls, began their studies at the age of seven years.

• EDUCATION vii. GENERAL SURVEY OF MODERN EDUCATION

  Ahmad Ashraf

  A modern system of national education emerged in Persia in the 1920s and 1930s, after the Pahlavi state had been founded; during this period the influence of the religious establishment was minimized, and the government gained control over schools, expanding enrollment at all levels.

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• EDUCATION viii. NURSERY SCHOOLS AND KINDERGARTENS

  Tūrān Mīrhādī

  Formalized preschool education in Persia can be traced back to ca. 1891, when Armenians in Jolfā, near Isfahan, founded a kindergarten, which continues today. By 1919 there were a few kindergartens in Tehran and other cities, primarily founded by missionaries and minority groups.

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• EDUCATION ix. PRIMARY SCHOOLS

  Sayyed ʿAlī Āl-e Dāwūd

  At first primary and secondary schools were not distinct, and the primary levels sometimes consisted of only four grades. There were no general instructional materials and no uniform curriculum, each school being under the direction of its founder or principal.

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• EDUCATION x. MIDDLE AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS

  Aḥmad Bīrašk

  Modern secondary education in Persia was originally based on the 19th-century European humanistic system, focused on general knowledge and building character rather than on professional or vocational training. This philosophy dominated the Persian system until the 1960s, when reforms were introduced by American advisers.

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• EDUCATION xi. PRIVATE SCHOOLS AND EDUCATIONAL GROUPS

  Aḥmad Bīrašk

  After the Constitutional Revolution some of these schools were closed, and the others were brought under state management. During the next fifteen years several more private schools were founded.

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• EDUCATION xii. VOCATIONAL AND TECHNICAL SCHOOLS

  Šahlā Kāẓemīpūr

  In 1958 the General Department of Vocational Training was established in the Ministry of Education. It was responsible for establishing a number of agricultural, industrial, commercial, and secretarial schools. 

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