In a sweeping move reminiscent of ideological purges, Iran’s clerical regime has dismissed and punished 20,000 school principals, according to revelations by the state-run newspaper Etemad. This action is part of a broader strategy to eliminate dissent and enforce loyalty within the country’s educational system.
In a recent report, Morteza Nazari, a former head of the Ministry of Education’s Information Center, disclosed that these dismissals are not routine administrative changes but punitive measures targeting those who supported the 2022 uprising following the death of Mahsa Amini. The uprising saw massive participation from students and teachers, who voiced their discontent with the regime’s oppressive policies.
Nazari revealed that the Ministry of Education did not provide clear reasons for the dismissals, suggesting that these educators were treated as expendable “cogs and bolts” rather than valuable professionals. These individuals had reached their positions through years of dedicated service and investment in their education.
Despite the regime’s claims that the changes are part of a natural cycle of retirements and replacements, many view it as a tactic of purging or so-called “purification,” aimed at removing critics and suppressing any potential for future dissent. Reza Morad Sahraee, the Minister of Education, denied that the dismissals were part of such a strategy, calling the turnover a routine annual occurrence.
#Iran : Teachers Stage Protests in More Than 100 Cities https://t.co/XlHXCvAofP
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) February 22, 2022
The backlash has not been limited to school principals. The regime has also targeted university professors in a similar vein. Last October, Mehdi Tehranchi, president of Azad University, dismissed 32,000 associate professors nationwide, replacing them with 20,000 first- and second-semester doctoral students. These replacements, hastily trained through a 40-hour course, are expected to serve as loyal propagators of the regime’s ideology.
The mass dismissals have left many experienced educators without their primary source of income and facing bleak employment prospects. The regime’s stringent ideological criteria for employment further exacerbate their plight, effectively blacklisting those who have previously expressed dissent or failed to demonstrate unwavering loyalty to the Islamic Republic’s principles.
The dismissals are part of a long-standing effort by the Iranian regime to control and manipulate educational institutions. Since the 1979 revolution, the regime has sought to militarize and ideologically purify universities, often with little success. Every uprising, including the recent 2022 protests, has shown the regime that intellectual freedom and dissent cannot be entirely eradicated.
This latest wave of dismissals underscores the regime’s desperation to maintain control over the educational sector, fearing that any intellectual independence could fuel further uprisings. Critics argue that the regime’s heavy-handed approach only serves to deepen discontent and alienate the very individuals tasked with shaping the nation’s future.