Right to Education Campaign, Daneshjoonews website, Human Rights Commission of Daftare Tahkime Vahdat just released a comprehensive report on 8 years of Right to Education violation in Iran.
In the 34 years that Islamic Republic has ruled over Iran, numerous cases of the violation of the citizens’ right to education in Iranian universities have been reported. In May 1980, Cultural Revolution led to elimination of thousands of dissident students and professors. This trend of purging continued in the following years in various forms.
After Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took office following 2005 Presidential elections, parts of Iran’s Ministry of Science, Research and Technology (MSRT)’s policies were more prominently aligned with the decisions of other suppressive institutions outside the universities, such as Ministry of Intelligence and certain sections of the Judiciary.
Furthermore, as a result of MSRT’s decision and the Supreme Cultural Council’s confirmation, individuals who played important role in excluding and banning students from education have been appointed as universities’ presidents.
YOU CAN READ ENGLISH VERSION HERE
YOU CAN READ FARSI VERSION HERE
The current report presents, in three general parts, the preliminary information on systematic violation of the right to education of Iranian citizens.
The first part of this report deals with the role of those institutions which are active in violation of the right to education of some of Iranian citizens.
The second part of the report, through presenting details and examples, covers how the rights to education of the following five specific groups have been violated: “starred students”, banned/excluded students, expelled students, religious minorities, and women.
The third part of the report contains annexes which lists precise information on more than 1000 instances of violation of rights to education of Iranian citizens between 2005 and 2012. Furthermore, evidences and documents of expelling and banning students from continuing their studies have been presented in this section.
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PART I-Official Institutions Involved in Banning/Excluding Iranian Citizens from Education
In recent years, various organizations have played direct and indirect roles in banning Iranian citizens from education. In this section, we present some of these institutions and cover their method of operation:
A. National Organization of Educational Testing
B. Supreme Cultural Revolution Council
C. Ministry of Science, Research and Technology
D. Islamic Azad University (IAU) and Ministry of Health and Medical Education
E. The Ministry of Intelligence
YOU CAN READ MORE HERE
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Part II -Student groups expelled from universities in Iran
As stated earlier, during the past years Iranian students have been deprived of their right to education for various reasons. Appendix 5 of this report refers to about 768 students deprived of their education and 250 expulsions of students and professors from April 2005 to March 2013. An additional 650 students expelled or deprived of education have been recorded but the names have not been published here. This report names only a portion of the students who have been banned from continuing their education. In many cases students do not publish their files due to security concerns or because they are awaiting a promised appeal of their case.
A. Starred Students
B. Suspended and Expelled students
C. Dismissals
D. Religious minorities banned from education
E. Depriving Women of Education
YOU CAN READ MORE HERE
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CONCLUSION
Islamic Republic regime’s actions in preventing many of the citizens from pursuing education because of their political and religious beliefs or their peaceful activism and its discrimination against women based on their gender, not only is an act in violation of human dignity, but also is contravene to Iran’s own constitution as well as international charters and conventions whose contents Iran has made a commitment to uphold. 
According to articles 2 and 13 of “International Covenant on Economic, social, and Cultural Rights” to which Iran is a signatory, higher education should be equally accessible to all citizens “without discrimination of any kind as to race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status”.
Islamic Republic’s conduct in denying the citizens access to education is also flagrantly in violation of various articles of Universal Declaration of Human Rights, International Convention on Civil and Political Rights, and UNESCO’s Convention against Discrimination in Education.
In section 1 of article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, it is clearly stated that “…higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit”. However, other sections of this universal Declaration have also been flagrantly violated by the Islamic Republic through depriving the citizens in an illegal and discriminatory manner of access the education.
Article 1 of UNESCO Convention against Discrimination in Education also rejects any “distinction, exclusion, limitation or preference which, [is] based on race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion”.
Islamic Republic of Iran has never assumed responsibility for its inhumane acts. It has denied that it has banned citizens from education for their various political beliefs. However, passing unjust laws, the high number of banned students in Iran, and credible evidences in this matter should lead to concrete actions and investigation by International organizations.
Iranian regime, in a first step, has to annul all the unjust rulings dictating a ban on education, and then take action to change its discriminatory laws. In addition, it has to free Zia Nabavi, Majid Dorri and all prisoner students, who have been banned from education, and have been arrested and sentenced to long imprisonment terms for pursuing the right to education.
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