Astudy on educational and cultural developments of Mazandaran in first phase of Pahlvi era

One of the initiatives under the modernization policy of the first Pahlavi era was the establishment of modern schools. The main drive for these educational and cultural changes was Reza Shah’s own interest for evolving the education from its traditional form, in which religious clerks were mostly engaged in teaching with the emphasis on religious knowledge, to the European style. In addition to establishing a lot of schools in Mazandaran, Reza Shah founded The Academy of Persian Language and Literature which started to make a lot of changes in the names of many cities. Indeed, it can be said that Mazandaran Province underwent dramatic educational and cultural changes in this period given the fact that it was Reza Shah’s hometown and was the second most widely reformed region after Tehran. The cultural initiatives in this province including the changes in educational system and establishment of new schools are notable too. If adequate budget was devoted to the development and preservation of educational staff, other cities in the province than Sari, Amol, Babol and Shahi could have enjoyed the new form of education. The present study uses first-hand sources including unpublished documents, journals and Reza Shah’s personal notes to present the status of educational and cultural changes in Mazandaran during the first Pahlavi era.