Anniversary of Formation of Literacy Movement in Iran

On Day7, 1358 of the Iranian calendar less than 11 months after the victory of the Islamic revolution, Literacy Movement Organization was set up on the order of the leader of the Islamic Revolution Imam Khomeini in a bid to enable huge masses of Iran to read and write.

It is the movement whose fruit today has made the Islamic Republic as one of the superior countries in the world in terms of literacy. On the anniversary of formation of Literacy Movement in Iran, we have prepared a special program.

In Surah Zumar of Holy Qur’an God says, “Are those who know equal to those who do not know?”

This question of the holy Quran from centuries ago indicates the importance of acquisition of knowledge in Islam to the extent that the divine revelations began with swearing in pen. Islam breaks up social obstacles and deems acquisition of knowledge obligatory for all followers. The grand Prophet of Islam advises Muslims everywhere to seek knowledge from the cradle to the grave?

For sure, adherence to these pieces of advice was not spread publicly among Muslims and it didn’t become practical as other religious injunctions. Nonetheless, it had been effective especially in the early Islamic eras which led to precious results and thrived by introducing an honorable chain of Islamic philosophers, scientists, literary figures and poets to the world.

Since then literacy has undergone many vicissitudes in the history of Islam and Iran. Many obstacles were put on the path of seekers of knowledge in order to slow down the pace of Muslims’ literacy and even stopped it in certain junctures, but the need to acquire knowledge could never halt the endeavours for learning knowledge in Iran and the Islamic world.

The Islamic revolution of Iran and the establishment of the Islamic Republic ushered in a new phase of putting Islamic injunctions and rules into effect. It opened a new chapter in the history of Iran’s literacy. Prior to the victory of the Revolution, with all fake efforts in the field of campaign against illiteracy, 70% of the potential literates were not able to read and write. In view of the need for gaining awareness and increasing the rate of literacy and culture; and realizing the problems emerging from the people’s illiteracy in the society, the great founder of the Islamic Republic Imam Khomeini ordered to establish the Literacy Movement.  

On Day 7, 1358 in the Iranian calendar, in a bid to boost literacy programs, the Imam appointed Hojjatoleslam Mohsen Qaraati as his representative in the organization.

Illiteracy has numerous consequences such as undermining the principle of educational justice and equal opportunities and decrease of self-confidence and national self-belief, decrease of efficient participation, decrease of life expectancy and health indexes. Violation of the rights of citizenship, growth of crimes and social problems also stem from illiteracy.  

The illiterate persons cannot solve their problems and that of their family, cannot establish an effective relationship with others and society and lack the ability of conscious choice and effective participation in the community.

The existence of illiterate persons harms the society, for; researches show that there is a direct and significant link between crimes and the rate of illiteracy. Meanwhile, the family system sustains harm with the existence of illiterate person as, according to researches, there is a direct relationship between the parents’ literacy level and children’s educational progress.

Illiteracy is a serious problem all over the world. According to UNESCO, in the years 2000 to 2010, the figure of illiteracy has reduced just 1%. The director of UNESCO education section of national commission in Iran Mrs. Moheb Husseini, in a meeting on literacy and sustainable development in 2014 said: progress of adults’ literacy is made with difficulty. In 2011, there were about 774 million illiterate adults and as compared with the year 2000, there is an increase of just 1%. Almost two thirds of adult illiterates are women. Many of them are denied elementary education. The number of the children deprived of education in the year 2011has been 57 million half of whom live in the war-hit countries. 69 million teenagers have also been deprived of studying and since 2004 little improvement has been made in their entrance at school. In low-income countries, merely 37% of teenagers finish the first grade of secondary level and this rate for the very poor people is 14%. This comes while the public acknowledge that human capital is the most precious wealth for every country which will be competent as a result of effective education system.

Literacy Movement in Iran started an all-out education under the management of Mr. Qara’ati. Averagely about 900,000 people attend literacy classes each year. Deputy minister Ali Baqerzadeh, regarding the measures of the movement, said: During these years nearly 550,000 people worked in this organization and some 22 million people benefited from literacy services in a way that in the year 1358, 50% of the population under 50 were literate which grew to 95% in recent years.

What is important is that many of the eager souls were not content with just learning how to read and write but they achieved higher degrees. The post-graduate of Social Sciences Maryam Esmaili is one of them. She is 37 years. She began reading and writing at the age of 19 and now studies for the Ph.D.

Maryam grew up in an environment where there were big obstacles for her studying, but her thirst for knowledge removed the obstacles after 19 years. She completed the primary education in one year. She studied the middle school at home and in spite of all problems, she continued studying. She believes that one should be patient to remove prejudices and instead of confrontation they should turn to understanding. Now those who once hindered Maryam’s studies, refer to her as a role model.

The UNESCO regional representative at the literacy conference said: the Islamic Republic of Iran has made spectacular progresses in the past years and as 98.8% of children attend primary school at the legal age, an eye-catching progress is made in providing the opportunity for basic education at the national level. Moreover, Iran has had a special concentration on education especially the daughters of villagers who study via virtual learning and establishment of home schools. Now Iran has a framework which is presumably out-of-school children or children who have not attended school.

The head of UNESCO regional office in Tehran stated: the Islamic Republic of Iran’s government, with the start of a literacy movement in the 1990s has made permanent efforts to improve the rate of literacy including creation of local acquisition centers, encouraging families towards book reading and formation of study groups for commemorating the latest skills in literacy. All these endeavours have led to the literacy of those aged 15- 24 both male and female in Iran.

Now about 91% of the Iranians above 6 years are considered literate and enjoying the blessing of literacy and education by all these people and eradication of illiteracy is the main concern of literacy movement. The literacy rate of Iranians in the recent years has made spectacular growth and in the target group of 10-49 years there is only less than one million illiterate in the country which is expected to decrease via regular programs.

RM/MG