Strategic Review of Environmental Protection Education in Iran: Necessities Bottlenecks

According to Article 50 of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Constitution, protection of the environment is a public duty. However, despite that legal stipulation, situation of environment in Iran is very grave. According to Environmental Performance Index report of 2006, Iran’s index was 70 making the country rank 53 among 133 countries. In 2008, Iran’s index went down 10 grades to 60 with the country ranking 78.Such official figures show that major environmental players in Iran, including ordinary people, academics, economic corporations, and most importantly, the government, have been unsuccessful in their effort to protect the environment and prevent its destruction and contamination. One of the most important problems and obstacles on the way of environmental protection in Iran is lack of awareness among all social classes of the Iranian society. According to economic, social and cultural development plan laws, the government has been obligated to bolster necessary mechanisms for the promotion of public and specialistic education on environment. The present research tries to show role and performance of education in protecting the environment and Iran’s approach to institutionalizing such education.