The education ministry “envisages strengthening Persian language skills and Iranian Islamic culture of pupils at the primary school stage“, its secretary told state media.
This move is in line with the supreme leader’s anti-Western, isolationist view of the world. He has repeatedly said that teaching English to children from an early age could lead to “western cultural infiltration”.
He says the language of science is not necessarily English and that children should be taught other languages like Spanish, French, or eastern languages.
President Hassan Rouhani disagrees with him, and has said that knowing English will help young people join the job market. But he had little power to stop the ban.
