ARMENIAN SCHOOLS IN IRAN NEED MORE TEACHERS
Armenpress
AUG 25,2005
YEREVAN, AUGUST 25, ARMENPRESS: Children from Armenian families in Nor
Julfa in Iran are fluent in their native tongue, like their parents
due to 12 hours of Armenian language -course for students of elementary
schools and 5-6 hours for secondary schools.
The Armenian-called schools in Iran are actually schools in which the
majority of subjects are taught in Farsi, providing also an extensive
course in the Armenian language and history and though their history
textbooks say nothing about the 1915 Armenian genocide in Turkey
teachers take every opportunity to refer to it. School curricular are
subject to constant revision in line with new requirements, carried
out by local specialists and through constant contacts with Armenian
education ministry. But according to Vazgen Movsisian, who teaches
at local Katarina school there is a growing demand for teachers,
though the nearby Isfahan University has an Armenian department.
Armenians have lived in Iran as a religious minority for the last 17
centuries. During this period, they have managed to preserve their
language, and their religion. Armenians came in mass to Iran during
the reign of Safavid King, Shah Abbas, who moved 300,000 of them
from the Western and Eastern Armenia to Iran in early 17th century
for political and economic reasons.
They were housed in the Julfa area, which lies outside the city of
Isfahan, and in the Gilan province. They later scattered throughout
the Isfahan province and then into the Tehran Mazandaran, and Gilan
provinces as well as Urumiyeh, the center of Western Azerbaijan. The
Armenian community is said now to be estimated at around 200,000. After
the revolution of 1978, forty thousand Armenians are said to have
migrated abroad, particularly to the ex-Soviet Republic of Armenia.
Armenians have nearly 40 schools, including eight high schools, the
administration of which is supervised by the Education
Ministry. Armenians also have their representatives in the parliament.