Schools and Students
With the continuation of street protests, unrest, labor strikes spiking, and sit-ins in Iranian universities growing, in an unprecedented move in the 44-year history of the Islamic Republic, students in different levels of education, from elementary to high school, also showed their solidarity in various forms. Just three weeks after the death of Mahsa (Zhina) Amini, numerous news reports of students (mostly girls) joining the protests were published along with related photos and videos from schools. This added an entirely new dimension to the Iran protests.
Although in some other protests in recent years, including in November 2019 people under 18 years old took part in street rallies and even some gave their lives, children in this round of protests declined to be a footnote in this movement. Instead, students have given these protests a new lease on life. In fact, for the first time in the last four decades, during the hours when students should be sitting in the classroom, the school has become a focal point of protests.
The young students in cities such as Tehran, Sanandaj, Karaj, Ardabil, Zahedan, Tabriz, Bukan, Saqqez, Kermanshah, Marivan, Shiraz, Shahinshahr, Mashhad, and Quds made schools a hub of protests by writing slogans on the class boards, by tearing off the photos of the current and former leaders of the Islamic Republic from the first pages of textbooks, removing their headscarves and in some cases setting them on fire, sitting-in and not appearing in class, or chanting protest anthems and slogans in school buildings and in the surrounding streets.
These unprecedented events have taken place notwithstanding the fact that due to the Cultural Revolution and the establishment of the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution, schools and textbooks were completely transformed, and given Islamic curricula. Despite this transformation and the fact that only Islamic student bodies were allowed to exist makes these protests even more significant. It should also be noted that in Iran not only students have been ideologically indoctrinated, but they have also had to attend government parades on Nov. 4 (the anniversary of the seizure of the U.S. embassy in 1979) and February 11 (the day the Islamic revolution succeeded in toppling the monarchy) since the early days of the revolution.
Among the many reports of student protests that made headlines in recent weeks, we can mention the protest move of female students at a school in Karaj. They huddled and chanted slogans and expelled one of the regional education officials from the school. Also, according to another video that was published on social media, female students at a school prevented the speech of a person who was said to be a member of “Basij” (Islamic militia affiliated with the IRGC) by removing their headscarves and chanting protest slogans.
The students’ protests led to the arrest of dozens of children and the escalation of conflicts between parents and school officials. Officials of the Ministry of Education also announced the transfer of detained students to correctional centers. In some cases, the security forces entered the schools and in addition to making the atmosphere tense, they sometimes turned the students’ protests violent.
In one case, reports indicated that the students of Sadr Conservatory in Karoon Street, Tehran, were molested under the pretext of a body search in the school, and the worried parents, who were not allowed to enter the school, protested in front of the school. The arrival of the security forces and then the ambulance to this girls’ conservatory has been verified. Education officials claimed that the presence of a medical emergency crew at the site was due to the “dropping of blood pressure” experienced by several students.
According to reports from local sources, one of the students of Shahed High School in Ardebil named “Asra Panahi” died in the school in connection with the nationwide protests. Earlier In this report Asra Panahi’s Case was dissected.
In one of its statements, the Coordinating Council of Iran’s Teachers’ Unions announced that the security officers “have taken the precious lives of a number of students and children in the most brutal way during this systematic repression.” It should also be noted that in some schools, teachers also went along with their protesting students.