The Teaching in Mother Tongues in the Country’s School Proposal is Ready

The right to learn in the mother tongue, ethnic and local have been mentioned in many human rights documents such as articles paragraphs 3 and 4 of article 4 of the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities, Universal Declaration of Linguistic Rights. Article 30 of the International Convention on the Rights of the Child article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; and most importantly article 15 of the Iranian Constitution.

With the adoption of this proposal and the implementation of article 15 of the Constitution we will witness teaching in the mother tongues in the country’s schools. Some members of Parliament say that although article 15 of the Constitution clearly mentions the education of ethnic groups in their mother tongues alongside Farsi in schools are free, but unfortunately some limitations and restrictions have prevented the implementation of the said article.

The opponents see education in the mother tongues a threat to national security and unity of the country, denying Iranians from communicating with each other and increase ethnic prejudices and disruptions in the affairs of the country. They believe that the implementation of this proposal will result the next two generation of Iranians who read, write and speak in their mother tongues, but cannot establish communication with each other, and fuel the flame of prejudice and ethnicity, and one of their reasons is the example of societies such as Pakistan, India and Afghanistan where they blame the lack of advancement of these countries on prejudice and ethnicity.

Stressing on the diversity of social and ethnic forces lets society have special capacities and talents, the Parliament’s Civil Commission’s spokesperson continued, “suitable benefiting from the capacity of ethnic groups can be the engine for growth, development, cultural, social, political and economic unity, and the lack of education in mother tongues has halted some internal and external talents and capacities of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Constitution. Currently local and ethnic languages are used in publications and mass media, but the full implementation of article 15 of the Constitution is an important and fundamental step towards one of the important demands of the country’s ethnic groups.

With the implementation of this proposal the thousands of years diverse cultural and linguistic assets of the country will be preserved, guarded and promoted, and with the establishment of the status of local and ethnic languages of the country, the cultural effectivity and guidance in the Middle East region will fruition for the Islamic Republic of Iran and subsequently our country will be the focal point of cultural spread in the region.

Photo