The Presence of Clergy in Schools: Job Creation for Clergy
The presence of clergy in schools, such as Amin, Roshana, Clergy of School, Ambassadors of Guidance, Mihrab, and Watchtower of the Rope of the Righteous, are names of initiatives conceived in recent years to increase the presence of clergy in schools. However, it seems that from the new academic year, we will witness a more serious and widespread presence of clergy in schools, even though currently more than three thousand conscripted seminarians and seven thousand official clergy are already active in education.
In past years, the comings and goings of clergy to schools were mostly limited to giving a speech or serving as a prayer leader, but some believed that this temporary and weak presence needed to become serious and official.
Like a teacher, supervisor, or educational instructor, clergy should have a permanent and effective presence in school activities. For this reason, Hamid Nikzad, advisor to the minister and secretary of the seminary and education cooperation council, has announced a five-year cooperation program between the seminary and education. He mentioned actions such as stabilizing the council’s structure in the country’s employment affairs organization, strengthening educational activities in schools by expanding the Amin plan, strengthening the school-mosque connection by implementing the Mihrab plan, and conducting scientific and informative courses for teachers through the Watchtower plan are underway.
He pointed out that currently, 20,000 clergy are active in the Amin plan in schools across the country and stated that the seminary and the cooperation council between the seminary and education are also obligated to supply seminarians for education. Nikzad even mentioned the establishment of non-governmental schools and kindergartens affiliated with the seminary and clergy and the development of mosque-based schools in the country under the title of developing schools of the Rope of the Righteous.
Official or Part-time Recruitment
In November 2017, the Kayhan newspaper wrote that over the years, the country’s educational system, due to the lack of effective connection with the seminaries, has not been able to fully achieve the desired goals of providing content based on Islamic foundations in its true sense. Solving this problem requires immediate, comprehensive, and extensive actions to address issues in various areas.
Actions such as revising and re-editing educational texts, revising and reforming the recruitment and training system for teachers and professors, and creating a suitable network for better utilizing the capacity of seminaries and the intellectual and mental abilities of qualified seminarians in schools and universities are examples of actions that are prioritized to address existing educational problems.
Kayhan wrote that recruitment can be official and gradual or in the form of part-time and non-official as part of an apprenticeship plan for seminarians, such as two days a week, one week a month, or one month a year. It would be good to arrange for part of the educational course for spiritual trainers, preferably in seminaries or by seminaries, and for existing trainers, in-service courses should be held in cooperation with seminaries.
An Ahmadinejad Idea
For the first time in 2009, during Ahmadinejad’s government, this idea was seriously proposed. It was sidelined with the arrival of Rouhani’s government, but now in Raisi’s government, it has been revived. Twelve years ago, Hojatoleslam Ali Zoulam, then advisor to the minister and secretary of the education and seminary cooperation council, announced the implementation of the School Clergy plan across all schools in Iran, considering it a solution to counter the Western culture dominating Iranian schools.
He stated that they have concluded that the educational problems of students can be resolved by the presence of clergy in schools, while currently, the presence of seminarians and clergy in school congregational prayers is minimal, and only a handful of students in Iran participate in congregational prayers.
We strive to maximize the minimal presence of the prayer leader in Iranian schools and assign the responsibility of the school clergy to individuals separate from other officials like the principal, deputy, and supervisor. The spiritual trainer in Iranian schools is a clergy, eulogist, and prayer leader who manages the religious education of students.
To Prevent Brain Drain
It has been announced in the news that from the new academic year, we will witness the serious presence of clergy in schools, especially in Qom schools, which are prioritized for implementing this plan. Recently, Saeedi, the Friday prayer leader of Qom, referring to the presence of clergy in gifted schools in a plan called Roshana, said that we aim to strengthen religious and doctrinal issues among the elites, which itself becomes a factor in reducing migration and brain drain.
Gifted children will develop more interest in the country and serving the Islamic system, just as they steal the country’s historical artifacts and do not return them to us, they also steal the country’s elites and make every effort to ensure they do not return to our country.
The director-general of education in Qom also stated that we aim to strengthen religious and doctrinal issues among the elites, which itself becomes a factor in reducing migration and brain drain, and gifted children will develop more interest in the country and serving the Islamic system. Children, adolescents, and young people are under attack from all sides, and there is no way to save them from these assaults except by acquainting them with the rich teachings of the Ahl al-Bayt (peace be upon them) and the Holy Quran.
Based on Which Document
Abdolrasoul Emadi, in an article republished by the Teacher’s Voice website, criticized such plans and wrote that the full-time presence of clergy in school is based on which requirement of the requirements listed in the national curriculum and the fundamental transformation document of education?
Based on the national curriculum document, the school’s educational program is defined in various learning domains, and each learning domain has its specific content and teacher. Additionally, the school management system also has a clear framework and defined responsibilities for the pillars of this management system. On what basis is the presence of a clergy in school?
He further wrote that it is supposed to play the role of the school supervisor. First of all, this duty also has its defined custodian. The clergy does not play the role of advisor or educational guide, teacher, instructor, art teacher, workshop supervisor, or executive assistant of the school.
Because each of these duties requires a custodian with the relevant education and expertise, and even if the incumbents in these positions do not have relevant expertise, these positions in the school are not vacant for a clergyman to take on the responsibility. And if these positions are unoccupied, the way is not for a clergyman to take over them.
