دکتر عبدالله انصاری

This study aimed at investigating the role of education system in realizing the goals of resistance economy in Iran.

For this purpose, the method of document content analysis was used, and to prioritize, the model based on the experts’ opinion approach was expanded and used in multiple ways. As for experts’ opinions, the research population included university professors, managers and experts of education, and managers and experts of institutions related to education, who were purposefully selected based on their knowledge, expertise, and interest in participating in this study. To analyze the findings, Friedman's test, two-way analysis of variance, and Kruskal-Wallis one-way analysis of variance were used, and the independence of sample groups from different statistical populations was tested.

The results of prioritizing the strategies and programs based on the average ratings showed that the strategy of "developing the participation of education system in realizing the goals of the resistance economy in Iran" has the second priority out of the four strategies. Furthermore, the program of "making resistance economy a discourse, and explaining relevant policies such as economic jihad, as well as promoting the culture of preserving the public treasury and  people’s rights, the rule of law, and responsibility towards the environment", has the first priority among the programs related to the strategy of developing the participation of education system in the society.

despite the diversity of experts' opinions about the definition of resistance economy and its relationship with Islamic economy and the difference in the views of the three groups of university professors, managers and experts in education, and managers and experts of institutions associated with education, approaching an agreement to make a discourse and realize the goals of resistance economy in Iran is recommended.

Price of education affects the demand for education and it is expected that increase in the price of educational goods and services results in low demand for education. Hence, governments make efforts to increase the educational coverage of the population through reducing the education costs and even providing school enrollment subsidies to low-income families. Appropriate economic policies are owed to a clear understanding of decision-making mechanisms within the household in relationship to appropriating resources to different expenditures, including general education. One way of obtaining such understanding would be estimate the price elasticity of demand for public education using the data on urban family income and the Rotterdom demand system. It is worth mentioning that households were classified into ten income groups. Using the data available for the period of 2007-2012, the price elasticities were found to be negative and they abide by the law of demand. The demand for public education in families belonging to groups one to six was elastic (responsive to price changes) and the demand in families belonging to groups seven to ten was inelastic. In fact, demand for education in low-income households (except for group eight) was more elastic than that of the privileged households. Any increase in the price of education decreases, as much as the difference in the educational expenditures, the demand for public education by both the low and high-income groups.

Budget allotment to the non-personnel expenditures at the Ministry of Education (MOE) affects the quality of educational services that are rendered by this Ministry. According to Wagner's perspective, budget allotment should be proportional to the GNP and the increase in student population. However, it is entirely possible that other factors may be affecting this budgetary category. The perusal of the available data for the period of 1982-2014 revealed that changes in non-personnel budget allotment have not been related to changes in student population nor the GNP, as Wagner predicts. What, however, seem to have been at work are the overall governmental expenditures, the MOE expenditures, the personnel population, and governmental policies that have brought changes in the budget allotted for the non-personnel expenses. It is therefore predicted that the non-personnel budget will show an average 3.9% annual increase over the following six years totaling to a 23.3% increase with respect to the present time.

In the present research, the impact of increase in the price of educational goods and services on welfare of Iranian urban households was examined. To this end, CV and EV indices were used and the equivalent amount of money to compensate for welfare loss of urban households was calculated. In addition, to estimate LES demand system, households were classified into ten income groups from 2007 to 2011. CV and EV indexes showed that the welfare level of all income groups decreased with the increase in the price of public education. Families which earn high income lost more compared to households on low income. Of course, the lost income among the privileged households, despite having been higher, is proportionally less than that of the lower income families. In other words, the higher lost income is due to the price increase in public education relative to the low income households, on the one hand, and the persistence of injustice in the distribution of educational opportunities.

To assess the status of Iranian educational system within a special conceptual framework of economic development, a number of existing documents related to the expenditure of oil revenues on education were critically reviewed. The results show that within any economic framework in which sustainable development is sought, the oil revenues can be utilized for the development of human resources. Utilizing oil revenues through education to improve people's capabilities can lead to more freedom and a better life. Doing so is a just act and compatible with the implicit social contract between people and government. However, the existing documents show that the Iranian government's performance in this area has not been adequate, hence, it is suggested that decisions on apportioning the oil revenues should be left to a governmental body other than the administration and parliament.

The present research evaluated how the shortcomings of household production and consumption patterns are reflected in selected textbooks of the sixth grade of primary school and the first and second grades of junior high school. The list of shortcomings was derived from previous research findings. The research method was content analysis and the data were analyzed through Shannon entropy method and frequency count. The population of the study comprised the selected textbooks of the sixth grade of primary school as well as those of the first and second grades of junior high school. The instrumentation included a content analysis check list whose validity was approved through content analysis. The reliability of the check list was estimated to be 0.85 based on Scott’s reliability pattern. Results of the study showed that from among the seven shortcomings of household consumption patterns, the components of “waste of natural resources and production factors”, “wasteful consumption”, and “violating intergenerational justice regarding consumption of public resources” were referred to in grade six. Furthermore, five components in the seventh grade and merely the component of “wasteful consumption” in the eighth grade were referred to. In addition, from among the shortcomings of household production patterns, only “low efficiency” was mentioned in grade six and “the imbalance between the growth of import and production” in grade seven. However, there was no reference to the examined components in the eighth grade. Hence, it can be concluded that the opportunity to clarify the shortcomings of household production and consumption patterns have not been seized in the textbooks.

The increase in educational costs not only affects human capital, it reduces people's welfare, the consequences of which must be of interest to the decision makers. To assess the extent of this reduction the data on 53736 urban households in five categories were used and the extent of demand for education estimated. The findings show that the extent of welfare reduction has been different for various income categories indicating a positive correlation. The reasons for such an event could lie in the difference in demand for education across income categories, the overall low level of expenses, the relative low share of education in overall household expenses, the relatively low number of students in the low income households, and the preference for the relatively cheap public education. Thus, the policies affecting the cost of education need to be reevaluated in order to prevent further reduction in the welfare of the low income households.

Some experts believe that the low demand for education among low income families, compared to the low supply, has a greater impact on dropout rate and full educational coverage of the population. Despite efforts made, such as establishing boarding schools, providing free meals and school supplies for students in deprived areas, there is a huge gap between the levels of coverage and school age population. Policies such as those leading to price increase for education would result in further reduction in demand among certain groups, and neutralization of other policies aiming for the opposite. Appropriate policies can be made when there are valid data on the way that different income groups react to price increases. One way of collecting such data would be to estimate the price elasticities using the data on urban family income and the almost-ideal demand system (AIDS). Using the data available for the period of 2004-2007, the price elasticities for education was estimated to be different for low, middle, and high income families. Since education is considered a luxury good for lower middle and low income families, policies need to consider ways of compensating for the decrease in such families demand for education in order to prevent any damage to the human capital among the deprived.