It is an undeniable fact that education is one of the most important cornerstones of all human societies. The way a society regards raising the next generation is reflected first and foremost in its educational system. Here I will try to describe a complete religious education. My case is the Islamic educational system in Iran. I will discuss the effects of religious education on school curricula, on girl pupils and their rights, and on boys’ and girls’ relationships. I will examine the imposition of the veil on little girls and adolescents, the rule of sexual apartheid and the way sexual matters and sex education are treated in schools. At the end I stress and emphasize the necessity of a secular education that will enable the raising of healthy children and young people and the development of the whole community.

With the anti-secularist backlash and the rise of Political Islam, the last two decades have been some of the darkest Iran has seen, especially for women and children. Medieval beliefs and customs have found legal expression to oppress the people. Words can hardly do justice to the repression and backwardness of the Islamist movement and the Islamist government. For a long time Islam was kept at a relative arm’s length from political power, but Political Islam is now the ideology in power in Iran, among other countries, and society has suffered serious setbacks in civil rights - especially women’s and children’s rights. One of these devastating setbacks has been in religious (radical Islamic) education. This system is reflected in school curricula, in the approach to science, in the school milieu, in the way girl pupils are treated, and in highly conservative teaching regarding the role of women.

School curricula

In many societies children are taught to hold certain beliefs and religious values. Iran is an extreme case where education has given way to indoctrination. Political Islam rules every aspect of education and the school system. Belief in Islam is compulsory, and to live according to Islamic values, norms and thoughts is a pre-condition for survival. Learning the Qur’an is compulsory from the first year in primary schools. Teachers must pass a religious exam to be permitted to teach. This exam includes Islamic rules, prayers, the Qur’an and Hadith. Islamist propaganda is taught systematically. Free thoughts are forbidden and punishable. Superstition has influenced the school curricula. This has created a dark and stagnant milieu for children. Pupils are taught that if they do not obey the rules, they will be burned in hell (jahannam). This has deprived and continues to deprive children of learning about scientific advancements and the scientific approach. It kills their creativity and replaces their curiosity and desire for learning with the dark rules and values of 1400 years ago at the time of Mohammad.

Islamist teaching regarding women is one of the most devastating aspects of the educational system in Iran. Children are taught that women are inferior to and equal to only half of a man, that women belong to men, that men have the right to punish their wives if they do not obey them, that women are the potential source of corruption in society so the hijab must be imposed on them. They are taught that the veil is the legitimate physical border of a woman’s existence in society to protect men and the community from any possible moral and social danger and the devastation they may cause. They learn that the main duty of women is to take care of the home and children. Teaching the oppression of women and male domination is an essential element of school education. Women are pictured only as mothers and housekeepers. In school, children are taught that the traditional male–female gender roles, women’s segregation, and sexual apartheid are a desirable state for women in society.

Sexual Apartheid

Another important aspect of religious education in Iran is the rule of sexual apartheid. Sexual apartheid governs every area of people’s lives including the workplace, libraries, transport, healthcare, education and schools. Girls and boys are separated from the very beginning in schools. According to the Islamist worldview, the basis of Iranian law, women are the source of corruption in the community and the agents of leading men astray. For this “crime” they are controlled and punished from early childhood to the moment of death.

Girl pupils are under enormous pressure in school as well as in society. The veil (hijab) is imposed on them by force. This deprives them of free movement, from playing freely, and from happily participating in social activities. The school authorities spy on girls to see if they wear make up, to hear if they talk about boys or if they carry pictures of stars and so on. Pupils are even intimidated into spying on their parents and to report to the school authorities about their parents’ life style and whether their female relatives offend against Islamic rules at home. This has produced a system of inquisition in schools. The environment is full of repression and control, the control of children’s minds and behaviour.

Friendship between girls and boys is forbidden, considered a sin and punishable. Girls are under strict scrutiny. Their talking, walking, laughing, dress and movements are controlled and carefully monitored. Teachers and principals punish girls physically and psychologically if the veil is not worn properly even at play.

Takleaf ritual

In Iran the legal age for girls to be married is nine. In law girls are considered to be mature women on reaching their ninth birthday. School authorities celebrate this day and hold a ceremony called the Takleaf celebration. In the Takleaf cermony girls have to wear a complete white hijab which completely covers their bodies. A clergyman talks about girls’ role in the society and warns them of evil, Fitna (which means chaos), and western culture. He reminds girls that their duty is to prevent corruption by wearing the proper hijab. From this day onward, girls are banned from playing with boys other than their brothers. It is forbidden for girls to laugh loudly. They have to pray to God five times a day. They are told that if they do not wear the proper veil or if their hair appears out of the veil, they will be punished in hell and snakes will grow on their heads.

Discussing sexual matters is treated as a serious crime and sex education is unacceptable. Any relationship among boys and girls is banned. In such a milieu it is a sin to talk about male and female organs. Everything related to male/female relationships is considered to be secretive, sinful and full of humiliation.

Children are normally keen to learn and experience, to know about the world, learn about their bodies and their bodily functions. They want to know where babies come from and about the opposite sex. All these normal and necessary curiosities are answered by frightening tales about evil and hell. This system brings about nothing but backwardness and hypocrisy.

The veil and the rights of girls under 16

Veiling the heads and bodies of little girls and adolescents has a devastating impact on their minds and lives. Veiling children who have not come of age should be prohibited by law since it violates the rights of the child. Children are born without religion, tradition and prejudices. They have not joined any religious sect. They are new human beings who happen to have been born into a family with a specific religion, tradition, and prejudices. It should be the task of society to neutralize the negative effects of this blind lottery. Society is duty bound to provide fair and equal living conditions for children, for their growth and development, and for their active participation in social life. Anyone who tries to block the normal social life of a child is as guilty of abuse as those who would physically abuse a child because of their culture, religion or personal beliefs. No nine-year-old girl chooses to be married, sexually mutilated, serve as housemaid and cook for the male members of the family, or to be deprived of exercise, education, and play.

Children grow up in the family and society according to established customs, traditions and regulations, and automatically learn to accept these ideas and customs as the norms of life. It is not their choice to be veiled, and indeed to suggest that a girl child “chooses” to wear the veil of her own volition is a ridiculous joke.

Secular education

Children have the right to be protected against the transgressions of religion and religious sects. It is an offence to prevent children from enjoying their social and civil rights such as a secular education, amusement and participation in social activities specific to children. The educational system in Iran and in other countries under the sway of Political Islam amounts to nothing less than systematic child abuse.

Society is duty-bound to defend the rights of children. We should demand that the standards that have become the norms in other countries as a result of the enlightenment and the just struggles of innumerable human beings in the secular democracies become the rules and norms in education in countries under Muslim rule. Society has the duty to protect children and persons under 16 from all forms of material and spiritual manipulation by religious institutions. Islamic society should guarantee freedom of religion, including atheism. Children must no longer be taught that Jews, Bahais and followers of other religions are somehow criminals and should not enjoy rights of Muslims. A complete separation of religion from the state guarantees this separation and protects children from manipulation by religion.

In my view, any struggle against Islamic child abuse in the educational system will have to confront state Islam and bring about the separation of religion from the state. This is a pre-requisite for a humane society that fulfils the needs and potential of children. Only a strong modern, secular and egalitarian social movement will enable us to sweep away the systematic child abuse that is the Iranian educational system.
We call for the complete separation of religion from education, for the prohibition of religious indoctrination and the religious reinterpretation of science and other subjects in schools and educational establishments, and for the abolition of any law, regulation or ritual that breaches the principles of secular education. These are the essential and necessary measures to ensure children rights, the health of the next generation and the development of society.

Based on a speech given at the 5th symposium of the Arab Cultural Centre in London in July 29, 2000 and at a seminar held by Save the Children in Stockholm in October 5, 2001.

Azam Kamguian