Education and Edification in Iranian Schooling system

Iranian schooling system after the Revolution was based on the separation of “edification” from “education”. “Education” was believed to be a scientific and technical matter, in the service of training scientists, doctors and engineers. “Edification” on the other hand was inspired by religious teachings, the task of which was to train students and future scientists who were committed to religious and national ideals. Such an attitude of separating the two caused a gap between education and edification which was never overcome. In later years, due to the problems of the imposed war and also the requirements of reconstructing the war-ridden country, edification faded away and what was left in the Iranian educational system was a technocratic, elitistic attitude towards education. The result has been a variety of discriminating processes in the educational system, working on the basis of wealth, smartness, etc., tending to segregate the wealthy or smart students from the rest. Another result has been prioritizing technical disciplines of exact sciences over humanities and arts.