A group of Azerbaijani activists has appealed to the Iran parliament, demanding that Azerbaijani Iranians are given the right to receive education in their mother tongue in that country.
The activists addressed a letter to the the chairman of the parliamentary education commission on November 1, with relevant demands.
In the letter, where the educational and psychological aspects of the subject is discussed, the activists stated that it is very difficult for children whose mother tongue is not Persian to study in Persian in pre-school and primary school.
The authors and signatories of the letter have requested that a law must be passed on education in the mother tongue for the mental health and well-being of children.
It is worth mentioning that the head of the Education Commission of the parliament to whom this letter is addressed is Alireza Monadi, the representative of the people of Tabriz, Azarshahr, and Osko in the Iran Parliament.
During his pre-election campaign, Alireza Monadi had chanted slogans supporting the study of Azerbaijani language and culture in schools in Iran that has a large Azerbaijani population.
Many MPs of Azerbaijani background had voiced similar thoughts but did not keep their promises after winning the elections.
It should be noted that teaching non-Persian languages in schools is forbidden in Iran although more than half of the country’s population consists of different ethnicities. Azerbaijanis that comprise one third of Iran’s population have been demanding the right for wider usage of their mother tongue. Dozens of Azerbaijani activists have been jailed inIran for their advocacy of the use of the Azerbaijani language.
