Al-Arabiya Persian - February 13, 2014
A group of civil and political activists from Iran's ethnic communities has launched the "Mother Tongue Education Movement," calling for support of the "right to education in mother tongues" across the country.
The campaign, which continues until February 21, International Mother Language Day, involves activists from the Azerbaijani Turk, Kurdish, Baloch, Arab, and Turkmen communities collecting signatures to demand the right to education in their native languages in Iran.
The campaign has announced that at the end of the specified date, a letter along with the names of the signatories will be sent to relevant international bodies and human rights organizations.
Yousef Azizi Benitorof, Secretary of the "Committee to Combat Racism and Arabophobia in Iran" and one of the campaign's founders, stated:
"This campaign can serve as a launching platform for greater coordination of the demands of Iran’s ethnic communities."
Azizi added:
"In our view, the issue of education in non-Persian languages has no relevance to the Academy of Persian Language and Literature. If President Rouhani’s administration is serious about implementing mother tongue education in schools, it must stand firm and not yield to extremist nationalist and Islamist factions."
He further emphasized:
"We expect all civil, cultural, political, and human rights figures and institutions in Iran to break their silence and oppose the inhumane views of the Academy of Persian Language and other extreme nationalist organizations and parties."
Jamal Pourkarim, a Kurdish political activist and campaign member, commented:
"Although Iran’s constitution refers to the right to education in mother tongues at various educational levels, this fundamental right has been denied under various pretexts, such as the recent claim by the Academy of Persian Language and Literature that other languages would harm Persian."
Campaign Statement:
According to the Universal Declaration of Linguistic Rights, "the right to education in one’s mother tongue is a natural and democratic right of all children in Iran." The "Mother Tongue Education Movement" in Iran is gaining momentum. Every day, more parents across the country join this movement, demanding that their children be educated in schools in their mother tongue. Denying children education in their mother tongue not only causes psychological harm but also violates equal citizenship rights in Iran.
The "Mother Tongue Education Movement" requires the support of freedom-loving individuals and political and civil institutions in Iran to take more effective steps. As this movement grows, the authoritarian government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, through one of its cultural institutions, the "Academy of Persian Language and Literature," has expressed concern about teaching in mother tongues. Some members of this academy have claimed that education in the mother tongues of non-Persian ethnicities "smells of conspiracy" and weakens the Persian language.
With such flawed and undemocratic reasoning, the extremist nationalists and Islamists of the Islamic Republic seek to prevent the realization of children’s democratic rights to be educated in their mother tongue. We consider the recent positions of the "Academy of Persian Language and Literature" to be in conflict with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Universal Declaration of Linguistic Rights.
In our belief, the "Mother Tongue Education Movement" is not against any national, ethnic, or linguistic group but rather aims to strengthen human solidarity throughout the country. The most pressing demand of this movement is immediate action to enable children to receive education in their mother tongue—be it Turkish, Kurdish, Balochi, Arabic, Turkmen, or others—in their respective ethnic regions.
The Iranian government has a responsibility to implement the democratic demand for "mother tongue education" for non-Persian children. This demand will be realized when the country’s cultural environment opens up and cultural budgets for educating all children in their mother tongues are distributed fairly.
The government’s disregard for these legitimate demands leaves people with no choice but to protest its policies and take their grievances to international organizations, such as UNESCO and the United Nations Human Rights Council. Efforts to fulfill the demand for "mother tongue education" will lay the groundwork for nationwide unity among the people of Iran.
The link to the original article in Farsi on Al-Arabiya Farsi:
کمپین آموزش زبان مادری در واکنش به مخالفت فرهنگستان ایران