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received: 2021-07-28                 DOI 10.19233/ASHS.2022.24
THE EFFECT OF CULTURAL POLICIES IN REZA SHAH’S PERIOD ON THE 
STATUS OF RELIGIOUS MINORITIES’ SCHOOLS IN SANANDAJ 
(JEWS AND CHRISTIANS)
Reza DEHGHANI
Department of West Asian and North African Studies, Faculty of World Studies, University of Tehran, 
Northern Campus, North Kargar Avenue, 16th street, 1439814411 Tehran, Iran
e-mail: rdehghani@ut.ac.ir
Rahmat HAJIMINEH
Department of Communication and Social Science, East Tehran Branch,Islamic Azad University, 
Shahid Bahonar St., Qiamadasht, Imam Reza Highway, Km 18, 1866113118 Tehran, Iran
e-mail: r.hajimineh@gmail.com
Hossein RASSOULI
Baran 2nd Street 94, Farhangian Quarter, Sardasht, 5961849611 West Azarbaijan Province, Iran
e-mail: hosseinrasouli57@yahoo.com
ABSTRACT
After assuming power in 1925, Reza Shah promoted and strengthened nationalism in Iran and moved toward 
nation-building and enhancing national unity. Since the very beginning of his rule, the Reza Shah government paid 
contributions to foreign and national schools belonging to religious minorities with the intention to gradually oblige 
them to follow the Ministry of Education’s programs. The present research has adopted a descriptive-explanatory 
approach, taking advantage of primary sources, not available to the previous authors, in order to analyze Reza Shah’s 
cultural policies and the effect of these policies on the position of Jewish and Christian minority schools in Sanandaj.
Keywords: Reza Shah, Sanandaj, Kurdistan, Minority schools, nationalism, Iranian Jews and Christians, 
national curriculum
GLI EFFETTI DELLE POLITICHE CULTURALI DEL PERIODO DI REZA SHAH SULLO STATUS 
DELLE SCUOLE DELLE MINORANZE RELIGIOSE (DEGLI EBREI E CRISTIANI) A SANANDAJ
SINTESI
Dopo aver preso il potere nel 1925, Reza Shah promosse e rinforzò il nazionalismo in Iran, adoperandosi 
in questo modo per la costruzione della nazione e l’unità della società multietnica iraniana. Sin dai primi 
giorni, il governo di Reza Shah concesse fondi alle scuole delle minoranze religiose, sia straniere che statali, 
con l’intento di obbligarle gradualmente a seguire i programmi del Ministero dell’Istruzione. La presente 
ricerca ha utilizzato un approccio descrittivo-esplicativo, avvalendosi di fonti primarie non disponibili in 
passato ai ricercatori, per analizzare le politiche culturali di Reza Shah e il loro impatto sulla posizione delle 
scuole delle minoranze ebraiche e cristiane a Sanandaj.
Parole chiave: Reza Shah, Sanandaj, Kurdistan, scuole delle minoranze, nazionalismo, ebrei e cristiani iraniani, 
curriculum nazionale
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INTRODUCTION
Kurdistan has historically been inhabited by various 
ethnic and religious denominations and peoples. As a 
result of its geographical and economic location, the city 
of Sanandaj, in the center of Iran’s Kurdistan Province, 
in particular, has traditionally accommodated significant 
communities of Sephardic Jews and Chaldean (Assyrian) 
Christians. During the Qajar Period (1796–1921), the 
existence of religious minorities in Sanandaj drew the 
attention of French religious missionaries and cultural 
institutions to the city and thus they began establishing 
their own schools there. Accordingly, the French Lazarists 
established the first modern school in Sanandaj in 1894 
(Nateq, 1990, 93). Sometimes later, a special school for 
the Jewish community was established in Sanandaj by the 
French Alliance Israelite. These schools taught modern 
sciences and foreign languages, especially French langu-
age to their students. As a result, some Muslim families in 
Sanandaj were encouraged to send their children to be 
educated in these schools.  
Since these schools were administered through 
people’s donations and French contributions, the Qajar 
government made little interference in their educational 
content, curriculum, and methodologies. Upon the as-
sumption of power by Reza Shah and specially the establi-
shment of the Pahlavi dynasty in 1925, however, this state 
of affairs changed; i.e., the state contributed financially 
to these minority religious schools and accepted to pay 
for some of their expenditures. In return, these schools 
were now required to follow programs and curriculum set 
forth by the Iranian Ministry of Education. This meant that 
these schools were required to teach the Persian language 
and literature and Iranian history and geography to their 
students. By examining new archival sources, the present 
research endeavors to review the effect of Reza Shah’s 
1 The history of the presence of Jews and Christians in Iran goes back to 3,000 years ago when they were forced to migrate from Jerusalem and 
the Holy Land to Assyria, Babel, and central and western parts of Iran during a couple of consecutive decades. In 750 BC and almost 200 
years before the establishment of the Achaemenid Dynasty, for instance, a group of Jews were enslaved and brought to Gilliard Region which 
nowadays is called Damavand Reign. After the conquest of Babel by Cyrus the Great in 539 BC, Jews were allowed to return to Jerusalem and 
Canaan, which were part of the Achaemenid territory and reconstruct the Soloman’s Temple. However, some of them remained in Iran and 
maintained their religion and culture freely (Foltz, 2013, 77). The Bible has referred to Cyrus the Great’s tolerance towards the Jews. Therefore, 
they consider him as one of the saviors of Jews The Book of Ezra 1, 2–3, Nehemiah & Ester 7). The emergence of Christianity in Iran dates back 
to the time of Parthian Empire. Between 70 AC to 80 AC, some Mesopotamian cities, such as Arbela, Odesa, and Nusaybin, which were parts 
of the Parthian Empire converted to Christianity. Since people in these cities were Aramaic/Syriac speaking and had lingual and cultural affilia-
tions with Syriac-speaking cities in the Roman Territory, such as Antioch, inviting people to convert to Christianity was developing very rapidly. 
In addition, Syriac-language Jews were concentrated in Mesopotamia and western parts of Iran. Meanwhile, the primary Christian missionaries, 
who were trying to promote the new religion, were speaking the same language. The Acts of the Apostles refers to Median and Parthian people 
who had traveled to Jerusalem on the occasion of Pentecost Celebrations (Roshdi, 2006, 14–16). Unlike Syriac-speaking communities in Meso-
potamia and coasts of the Persian Gulf, in which Christianity was flourished rapidly, this religion was not so common among Aryans and in the 
Iranian Plateau up to at least 2nc century AD. The issue of language was the main obstacle for the flourishment of Christianity. In addition, the 
lower levels of culture, arid climate of central Iran, and lack of the Greek philosophical traditions – like the one developed in Roman Empire 
and Mesopotamia, were man obstacles that hindered the development of Christianity in the Iranian Plateau. When Christianity was adopted as 
the official religion in the Roman territories and Zoroastrianism became the state religion in Iran, the Sassanid Dynasty prevented the promo-
tion of Christianity in its territory (Roshdi, 2006, 18–19). Concurrent with the promotion and development of Christianity in Syriac-speaking 
cities and Jewish communities in Mesopotamia and Western Iran, Christianity was gradually adopted by Assyrians and Armenians, which were 
parts of the Parthian Empire, in2nd century AD. Therefore, Assyrians and Armenians were first communities who welcomed Christianity. It can, 
therefore, be argued that the beginning of the development of Christianity in Iran is intertwined with the history of this country. In other words, 
we can say that first Christians were living in the Iranian territory (Bradley, 2008, 197). 
cultural and educational policies on schools belonging 
to religious minorities residing in Sanandaj, particularly 
by its Chaldean Catholics and Alliance Israelite School.  
It is noteworthy that, in recent years invaluable works 
have been published regarding the religious minorities’ 
schools in Iran, such as those studies by Homa Nateq (Na-
teq, 1990; Nateq, 1996), Abutalib Soltanian (Soltanian, 
2010, 57–80; Soltanian, 2011, 63–84), and Aniseh Sheikh 
Rezaei (Sheikh Rezaei, 1992, 95–109). In addition, Nour 
al-Din Ne’mati and Mazhar Edway (Ne’mati & Edway, 
2013, 153–172), in their joint article have reviewed the 
effects of the modern education system on Jewish schools 
in Iran. Nonetheless none of the mentioned studies have 
dealt so much with the status of religious minorities’ 
schools in the city of Sanandaj during Reza Shah’s reign 
and have only sufficed themselves with providing a brief 
history of the construction of such schools in this city. 
The present research has adopted a descriptive-expla-
natory approach, taking advantage of primary sources 
particularly archived documents, not available to the 
previous authors, in order to review and analyze Reza 
Shah’s cultural policies and the effect of these policies on 
the position of Jewish and Christian minority schools in 
Sanandaj. 
THE STATUS OF RELIGIOUS MINORITIES IN 
SANANDAJ’S HISTORY
Sanandaj is the capital city of Iranian Kurdistan Pro-
vince which was established during reign of Ardalans (as 
a vassal to the Persian Safavid Dynasty) in 1636 by Sule-
yman Khan Ardalan. The geographical location, climatic 
condition, and economic advantages of Sanandaj not 
only attracted the Muslim Kurds (both Sunnis and Shiites) 
to the city, but also attracted some followers of other 
Abrahamic religions, such as Jews and Christians.1 For 
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this reason, Sanandaj was not a religiously homogenous 
city when the Qajars emerged as rulers of Iran. In this 
regard, one of the local historians of that period in 1901 
referred to Sanandaj as a city with “diverse communities” 
(Ne’mati & Edway, 2013, 17). Considering the fact that 
western parts of Iran, and especially Kurdistan, have been 
a key center for the Jewish culture and community in Iran 
and the Middle East (Kohan, 2013, 189)2, the Jews have 
attached such special importance to the city of Sanandaj 
that they have referred to it as a “small Jerusalem” (Ko-
han, 2013, 190). There are, however, different assessment 
regarding the number of Jewish and Christian families li-
ving in Sanandaj. James C. Rich, the British politician and 
diplomat who traveled to Iran in 1820, reported that 50 
Chaldean Catholic and 200 Jewish families were living in 
Sanandaj (Rich, 2002, 198). A century later, Vladimir Mi-
norsky mentioned that there were 60 Chaldean Catholic 
and 500 Jewish families in Sanandaj in 1918 (Minorsky, 
2007, 67). Razmara, a military commander of the Reza 
Shah Period, elaborated on the geographical situation and 
location of Kurdistan and reported that 50 Christian and 
300 Jewish families were residing in Sanandaj (Razmara, 
1941, 24). Then there is another report dating back to 
Reza Shah’s period which puts the Jewish and Christians 
number of the city up to 3,000 and 1,500 respectively 
(Mohseni, 1948I, 111).
Religious minorities residing in Sanandaj, inclu-
ding Jews and Christians, were free in observing their 
religious rituals and had their own peculiar worshi-
ping centers. Christians had a church in Sanandaj 
which had been constructed over the ruins of the older 
church in 1840 (Minorsky, 2007, 77) and “Muslims 
could hear the sound of its bell every morning and 
evening” (Vaqaye’ Negar-e Kurdestani, 2002, 17). The 
Jews meanwhile had three synagogues in Sanandaj 
and had a separate cemetery, which was 300 years old 
(Kohan, 2013, 191).
2 The city of Ur, located in Mesopotamia, is the birthplace of Prophet Abraham and Jews consider themselves as this prophet’s descendants. 
Therefore, this city is considered as the second sacred place by Jews. In addition, Jews were often forced to migrate to Mesopotamia by As-
syrians and Babylonian monarchs as a result of which a relatively huge community of Jews was established in this region. When Cyrus the 
Great conquered Babylonia, some of these Jews did not return to Jerusalem and preferred to remain in Babylonia, which had become part 
of the Achaemenid Empire. Some of them preferred to migrate to western parts of Iran and reside in cities such as Ctesiphon, Jondishapour, 
Shush, Ahwaz, Shoushtar, Hamadan, and Nahavand. They established a township in Isfahan called “Yahoudieh” (Miskawayh Razi, 1987, 
257). Tombs of great Jewish prophets are spread throughout the western cities of Iran. There are 17 such tombs in Iran, such as the tomb of 
Daniel in Shoush, the tomb of Isaiah in Isfahan, the tomb of Ezekiel in Dezful, the tomb of Esther and Mordechai in Hamadan, and the tomb 
of Kedar in the city of Qeydar in Zanjan Province. The existence of such tombs has been another motivation for the continuous presence 
of Jews in western parts of Iran since old times (Fawzi Tuyserkani, 2016, 72–73). After the emergence of Christianity, Jewish communities in 
Mesopotamia and western Iran converted to the new religion. In fact, early Christian missionaries were Syriac/Aramaic speaking and had 
lingual and cultural commonalities with the people of these regions. Meanwhile, green and flourished cities of western Iran, compared with 
arid deserts of central Iranian Plateau, were more attractive for Jews and Christians. People in cities of western Iran were less religiously 
biased and Jews and Christians preferred to live in the western parts of Iran, which were proximate to the territory of Roman Empire and 
their fellow-religion people. Upon the acceptance of Christianity by Armenia in the beginning of the 4th century AD, an epicenter of Eastern 
Church was created in Caucasus which was gradually extended in west and northwest of Iran. As a result, large groups of people converted 
to Gregorian Christianity in different cities of Azerbaijan, such as Tabriz, Urmia, and Salmas. Following the migration of Armenians to west-
ern parts of Iran and centers of political power such as Isfahan and Hamadan, the number of Christians in Iran increased dramatically. As a 
result of these migrations, Armenians form the greatest number of Christians in contemporary Iran (Foltz, 2013, 131).
3 Sanandaj was traditionally the key trade centers in western Iran and located on its main trade routes (Minorsky, 2007, 67). 
The majority of Jews residing in Sanandaj were therefore involved in trade and commercial activities accumulating extensive 
wealth (Oubene, 1983, 345).
Eugène Boré, the leading Lazarist French mis-
sionary, during his time in Iran, writes that Iranian 
Christians, as a religious minority in a majority Muslim 
society, enjoy proper freedoms and in comparison, to 
other religious minorities such as Jews and Zoroastri-
ans, have a better living condition (Boré, 1840, 272). 
Such was the state of affairs in Sanandaj, too3.
During Reza Shah’s reign, there were also records 
that Iranians of Jewish and Christians minorities were 
employed in governmental offices. In 1929, for in-
stance, a Christian was the head of the Sanandaj Post 
Office and a couple Christians had been employed in 
the Financial Department of the city (NLAI, 1935, she-
et 2). Employment of some members of the Jewish and 
Christian communities in governmental organizations 
in Sanandaj can arguably be considered as one of the 
main consequences of the establishment of modern 
French schools during the Qajar Period and the en-
hancement of literacy rates among religious minorities 
in the city. Also, it can be regarded as an indicator of 
the elevation of their social position during the Reza 
Shah Period. 
HISTORY OF FOREIGN SCHOOLS IN IRAN AND 
KURDISTAN DURING THE QAJAR PERIOD
The first modern-styled European schools in Iran 
were established during the Qajar dynasty for Chal-
dean-Assyrian Christians outside Iranian Kurdistan 
in the city of Urmia and nearby villages in 1838 by 
Protestant American missionaries. Due to the lower 
population of Christians in Kurdistan, the first Lazarist 
School was established in Sanandaj with delay, i.e., in 
1894. The school was run by Reverend Father Hilarion 
Montague, head of the Lazarists in Iran. This school 
was mostly involved in teaching the French language 
and its expenses were covered by Lazarists in Tehran 
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(Nateq, 1996, 203–204). In a report written by Lazarist 
authorities, which provides statistics over the number 
of Lazarist schools in Iran in 1905, it is mentioned that 
“there is a school for Catholic Armenians” in Sanandaj 
“with 2 teachers and 25 pupils” (Nateq, 1996, 219).
In their initial stage, the Lazarist schools in Iran had 
a 4-year curriculum with courses on Old and Modern 
Syriac language, religious scriptures, French language, 
Persian language, mathematics, history, geography, 
history of philosophy, religious jurisprudence, re-
ligious tenets, and songs (Nateq, 1996, 171). In the 
beginning, Lazarist schools were mostly concentrated 
on religious education and religious promotion among 
the Christian community in Iran in order to compete 
with American Protestant missionaries. Nevertheless, 
these schools gradually moved towards adopting a 
temporal approach and incorporated the curricula on 
modern sciences and foreign or indigenous languages. 
As a result, many Muslims, too, were attracted by 
these schools.
Alliance Israelite School was another school esta-
blished by religious minorities in Sanandaj during 
the Qajar Period. Preparations for the establishment 
of the first branch of Alliance Israelite School in Iran 
were made during Naseraddin Shah’s trip to Paris in 
1872. However, their first school was not established 
up until 1898 - during Muzaffareddin Shah’s reign. 
In 1898, the first boys-only Alliance Israelite School 
was established for Jews in Tehran. It should be 
mentioned that a couple of years before the establi-
shment of this school, Jews residing in Sanandaj dis-
patched a letter to the Alliance Israelite in Paris and 
requested for the establishment of a school in their 
city so that they can enhance their social position 
(Levy, 1960, 772). The Hamadan branch of Alliance 
Israelite schools was opened in 1900. One year later, 
the Isfahan branch was inaugurated (A’lame Yahoud, 
1954). In 1904, Alliance Israelite also opened its 
branches in the Iranian cities of Shiraz, Kermanshah, 
and Sanandaj (Nateq, 1996, 140–146). The Sanandaj 
branch was administered by a couple, the Hayouns, 
who had previously been involved in teaching ac-
tivities under the supervision of instructors in the 
Isfahan branch (Nateq, 1996, 145). The Christian 
community of Sanandaj did not however welcome 
the establishment of the Alliance Israelite School in 
Academic 
year Number of schools Number of students
Number of graduated 
students
Number of teachers
Jewish 
Alliance
Chaldean 
Christians
Jewish 
Alliance
Chaldean 
Christians
Jewish 
Alliance
Chaldean 
Christians
Jewish 
Alliance
Chaldean 
Christians
1928–1929 1 - 1 - 148 - 51 - - - 4 - 6 - 7 -
1929–1930 1 1 1 - 90 45 63 - - - - - 10 1 6 -
1930–1931 1 1 1 - 193 41 70 - 2 - 4 - 7 1 7 -
1931–1932 1 1 1 - 202 45 80 - - - - - 8 - 6 -
1932–1933 1 1 1 - 220 47 97 - 6 - 1 - 12 - 7 -
1933–1934 1 - 1 - 178 - 132 - 4 - 4 - 6 - 6 -
1934–1935 1 - 1 - 180 - 126 - 3 - 5 - 7 - 6 -
1935–1936 1 - 1 - 164 - 104 - 9 - - - 10 - 5 -
1936–1937 1 - - - 135 - - - 10 - - - 8 - - -
1937–1938 1 - - - 144 - - 2 - - - - 8 - - -
1938–1939 1 - - - 154 - - 10 - - - - 10 - - -
1939–1940 1 - - - 190 - - 16 - - - - 8 - - -
1940–1941 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
1941–1942 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Table 1: Number of Jewish and Christian Communities’ Schools and their Students and Teachers. 
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this city. According to a report by the head of Laza-
rists in Sanandaj, “There are a lot of Jews in the city 
of Sennah (Sanandaj) and they have opened a big 
school in this city that teaches all languages. This 
is a great danger for Christians” (Nateq, 1996, 147). 
Sometime after the establishment of the Alliance 
Israelite School in Sanandaj, another branch of this 
school was opened in the city of Bijar. Such schools 
were established through the contributions of Allian-
ce Israélite UniverselleI, a Paris-based international 
Jewish organization. As a matter of fact, providing 
cultural and economic support for the Jews all aro-
und the world was the main objective of establishing 
such schools (Ne’mati & Edway, 2013, 88).
As reported by Ahmad Moqbel, who was the agent 
of the Education Department of Kurdistan in 1922, in 
addition to the two state schools of Ahmadiyeh and 
Ettehad in Sanandaj, there were two other schools in 
this city, one belonging to Christians and the other to 
the Jews. This report also refers to the dire financial 
condition of the Alliance Israelite School in Sanandaj 
at the time. Moqbel’s report then suggests that Alliance 
Israelite in Tehran and the French embassy should be 
encouraged to “pay their contributions to the Sanandaj 
branch as before” (NLAI, 1922, Sheet 6–7). 
In table (1) the number of schools, students, and 
teachers from the Jewish and Christian communities 
have been shown in a categorized form by the years of 
the reign of Reza Shah. 
During that time, many Muslims, and especially 
the rich families of Sanandaj, were used to send their 
children to any of these two schools. Most Muslim 
children were, however, sent to the Jewish schools. 
One of the reasons that Muslims were interested in 
Alliance Israelite schools was the fact that the curricu-
lum did not have or promote Judaism.
POLITICAL CONTEXT OF REZA SHAH’S INITIATIVES 
AND POLICIES FOR IRANIAN NATIONAL UNITY
Iran’s exposition to western civilization dates back 
to pre-19th century. When Iran experienced consecu-
tive and irreparable failures in its wars with Russia, 
however, Iranian identity was faced with various chal-
lenges and crises. Between 1801and 1828, Iranians 
signed two agreements of Golestan and Torkamanchai 
with Russia as a result of which Iran lost large swaths of 
its territory in Caucasus. This failure threatened Iran’s 
national authority and the country’s dispersed political 
power as a result of which Iranian political, social, 
and economic life was fundamentally transformed. 
Iranian society in the 19th century was a multi-eth-
nic society comprised of ethnicities such as Persians, 
Kurds, Azeris, Arabs, Turkmans, Gilaks, etc. In addition 
to ethno-cultural differences, Iranians were also divi-
ded along the sectarian lines of Shiism and Sunnism. 
Muslims and non-Muslims of Iran had also their own 
differences. At the same time, old differences between 
nomadic life and urban/rural life have always been 
considered as a source of division within the Iranian 
demographic, political, and economic structure and 
have created complicated dilemmas for the country. 
These features along with linguistic differences crea-
ted an image of 19th-century Iran, which was a multi-
-ethnic, dispersed, and often nomadic society. Despite 
all these divergences and ethno-religious difference, 
Iranian society had managed to maintain its existence 
and unity as an ancient country. Before the wars of 
early 19th century between Iran and Russia, Iranian 
integrity and unity had been maintained, because of 
the existence of ancient structures of governance in 
the country. In addition, there were firm cultural and 
civilizational bonds, such as the Persian language and 
common history, which had connected various Iranian 
ethnicities (Atabaki, 2001, 80).
Following Iran’s humiliating defeat from Russia and 
the loss of extensive swaths of its territory, Iranian soci-
ety was faced with a crisis and its structural unity was 
undermined. Iran’s failures from Russia were vitally 
important incidents, because these failures influenced 
Iranian political and ideational structure. These failu-
res were not limited to just politico-military spheres or 
merely loss of territorial integrity of the country. Fol-
lowing the conclusion of Turkamanchai Agreement, 
however, a legal basis was created in Iran-Russia rela-
tions and in the foreign policy of Iran which is referred 
to as “positive balance”. This imposed policy forced 
Iran to give balanced politico-economic concessions 
to Russia and Britain. The policy of “positive balance” 
continued even after the collapse of Qajar Dynasty 
and it was pursued even during the Pahlavi Period and 
up to the eve of the Oil Nationalization Movement. 
It was only in a short period of time, i.e. during the 
premiership of Amir Kabir, that Iran adopted a policy 
of “negative balance”.  During this short period, Iran 
did not give any concessions to foreign powers and 
adopted an independent policy toward them.
During the whole 19th century, Iranian foreign 
policy was influenced by the bipolar paradigm of 
Russia and Britain. These two countries had totally 
extensive influence in Iran. As a result, other actors 
and powers were unable to practice any influence in 
Iranian politic-economic affairs. As a matter of fact, all 
efforts by Iranian politicians and leaders to introduce 
a third power into Iranian political and economic 
affairs and reduce the influence of Russia and Britain 
were doomed to failure (Ali Soufi, 2010, 213). In 
several occasions in 19th century, for instance, Iranian 
politicians endeavored to provide opportunities for 
getting American and French governments involved 
in political affairs of their country. However, Russia 
and Britain synergized their efforts and prevented the 
American and French governments from playing any 
role in Iran (Homa Katouzian, 2007, 231–232).
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Iranian intellectuals and statesmen were greatly 
concerned of all these issues during the whole 19th 
century. They were looking for solutions to get rid 
of these problems and move the country toward 
progress and development. These mental and prac-
tical endeavors resulted in the formation of a reform 
movement. Reformists such as Abbas Mirza, Qaem 
Maqam Farahani, and Amir Kabir were forerunners 
of this movement all of whom were statesmen of 
the Qajar Period. These individuals were concerned 
about their country and its development. They are 
considered as early Iranian nationalists who advo-
cated the existence of a powerful central govern-
ment with a mighty and permanent army. 
Following Iran-Russia wars and the evolution 
of reformist movement, the Iranian social identity 
– which was an amalgamation of ancient tradi-
tions, eastern monarchism, Islamic thought, and 
Shiism – underwent tremendous shifts. Influenced 
by European worldviews, which were promoted by 
Europe-educated thinkers and statesmen, the Irani-
an society resorted to a new identity based on na-
tionalism. Iranian nationalism was, at the outset, a 
reaction to aggressions of great colonial powers and 
adopted an anti-despotism nature in its internal and 
domestic dimension (Katem, 1999, 65). Influenced 
by orientology and thoughts of theorists, such as 
Schlegel, Gobineau, and Gustav Le Bon, Iranian ed-
ucated classes – the majority of whom had received 
modern Western education – used nationalism and 
ethnic consciousness as instruments for creating an 
integrated national unity (Vaziri, 1991, 214).
Iran’s humiliated status and its comparison with 
past grandeur, especially the ancient-times gran-
deur, had created a nostalgic feeling among Iranian 
elites which was dependent on public, intellectual, 
and political mobilization for saving the country 
from its current state of affairs. This consciousness 
toward past Iranian history and the grandiose of 
this history along with feeling humiliated because 
of the current condition of the country are reflected 
in the works of poets, writers, and political elites of 
Iran both before and after the Iranian Constitutional 
Movement (Ahmadi, 2011, 145). 
In such an atmosphere, Islam was highlighted as 
a collective identity rather than a religious ritual 
tradition which should have been used for strength-
ening the nationalism. Confrontation with Arabs and 
omission and marginalization of clergies – pursued 
with whatever intention – created a kind of radical 
and intolerant nationalism which was fascinated 
with the grandeur of ancient Iranian monarchies. 
This nationalism stood against Islam. Its outcome 
was nothing but efforts for undermining the Islam 
(Homa Katouzian, 1981, 125). This kind of nation-
alism attached great importance to national identity. 
It prioritized national identity over all subnational, 
lingual, local, or regional identities. Based on this 
principle, which is deemed as a kind of political 
ideology, the only accepted form governance was 
national governance. It highlighted history, culture, 
shared mythology, official language, common bitter 
or sweet memories, etc. Iranian national identity 
and Iranian nationalism were, therefore, formed 
during political upheavals of the 19th century and 
concurrent with developments such as the Constitu-
tional Revolution and World War I (Atabaki, 2006, 
190).
This new identity was formed within the context 
of history. Developments such as World War I, 
foreign interference, efforts to impose the so-called 
1919 Agreement on Iran, decadence of authority 
of the central government, emergence of separatist 
groups and local resurgent factions, made it nec-
essary to establish a powerful central government, 
modern military forces, bureaucratic infrastruc-
tures, and ultimately create national unity (Amanat, 
2017, 433–434). Egalitarianism, freedom-seeking 
spirit, and romantic nationalism were inspiring 
forces for the first generation of Iranian intellectuals 
and their efforts for introducing change and reform 
throughout the country. However, Iranian intellec-
tuals emerging after World War I were influenced 
by developments in Germany, Italy, and Portugal. 
These groups of intellectuals considered political 
authoritarianism and lingual nationalism as neces-
sary and efficient factors in the materialization of 
their dreams (Atabaki & Zürcher, 2006, 93). 
They believed that European-based pattern of 
development exemplifies an integrated society 
explicitly formed according to concepts of nation 
and state. They also argued that only an authori-
tarian and integrated government can introduce 
reform in society and, at the same time, protect the 
country’s unity and territorial integrity. As a matter 
of fact, different societies were dreaming of estab-
lishing powerful and competent governments in the 
post-World-War-I period. Due to crises in modern 
structures of identity, this dream was evolved im-
mediately after World War I. Various intellectuals, 
including Hussein Kazemzadeh Iranshahr, Mahmud 
Afshar Yazdi, Ahmad Kasravi, Malek al-Shoara Ba-
har, Ali Akbar Siasi, and Seyed Hassan Taqizadeh 
– despite their different attitudes – believed that 
democratic dreams and visions of the Constitutional 
Revolution are not so much attractive and cannot 
settle the problems. Therefore, they argued that 
society should move toward establishing an intel-
lectual and reformist dictatorship in order to get 
prepared for accepting a social revolution (Vahdat, 
2002, 129).  
Such a system – referred to as the National State 
– was the outcome of a confluence of nationalism 
and statesmanship. From one hand, this system was 
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an advocate of the empowerment and enhancement 
of the state authority. From the other hand, it was 
endeavoring to create an identity-making and a 
unity-promoting atmosphere according to which 
all cultural elements were required to pursue a 
prevalent official norm (Vincent, 1992, 134). In 
such circumstance, Reza Khan rose to power and 
various groups of intellectuals and statesmen wel-
comed his ascendance in the political hierarchy. In 
addition, Reza Khan – like many military leaders of 
the 20th century – had a special personality and a 
peculiar military discipline which were compatible 
with views and attitudes of the intellectuals of that 
period (Ansari, 2003, 48).
Reza Khan had clearly witnessed foreign inter-
ference in Iranian affairs during the Qajar Period. 
He had seen how Iran had been occupied by states 
that were at war with each other during World War 
I. Therefore, Reza Khan knew how to build a mod-
ern Iran which can protect its independence based 
on the pattern that had turn out to be common 
in the post-World-War-I period. This pattern was 
based on the concept of modern state supported by 
its powerful army derived from Iranian nationalism. 
Appealing intellectual effects of the Constitu-
tional Movement and emergence of western-edu-
cated classes among the ruling elites were major 
factors that encouraged Reza Shah to move the 
country toward modernization. Nevertheless, we 
cannot deny Reza Shah’s role in the establishment 
of Iranian modern army, integration of Iran, unifi-
cation of dress codes, development of roads, rati-
fication of the law of compulsory military service, 
establishment of National Organization for Civil 
Registration, etc. and their effects on the creation 
of national unity in the country. Undoubtedly, these 
initiatives were not rooted in Reza Shah’s military 
spirit. Rather, they were the crystallization of wish-
es and ideals of intellectuals who believed that the 
only way to follow Western civilization is getting 
distanced from religious traditions prevalent in 
Iranian society (Foran, 1992, 349). 
Iranian nationalism was crystallized in the 
cultural behavior of the Pahlavi Dynasty within the 
context of xenophobic approaches and through ex-
pressing hatred toward whatever element deemed 
as non-Iranian. Later on, European culture was 
excluded and Islamic culture along with Arabic 
language was put at the center of these assaults 
(Safaei, 1978, 91). According to Reza Shah’s 
pattern of identity, centralism was the means for 
introducing modernism into Iranian society. It was 
deemed as the proper context for giving legitimacy 
to the ideology of nationalism. In this period, the 
state-oriented outlook was basically concentrated 
on seeking a unity and an integrity whose ultimate 
purpose was creating a theoretical framework for 
unifying the tribes, groups, and factions living in a 
specific geographical domain or ruled over by the 
state and government (Kashani-Sabet, 2002, 162). 
In pursuing his modernist objectives, Reza Shah 
was mainly influenced by Mostafa Kamal Ataturk 
and his plans and programs for modern Turkey. 
Influenced by the Turkish leader’s thoughts and 
initiatives, Reza Shah pursued his secularization 
and Westernization policies. Reza Shah had several 
important similarities with his Turkish counterpart 
and followed his example: military dictatorship, 
development of militaristic spirit in the society, and 
promotion of extremist nationalism (Ataturk was 
promoting pan-Turkism in Turkey and Reza Shah 
advocated a kind of nationalism based on ancient 
Iranian history and a return to pre-Islamic Iranian 
civilization). During this period, both Iran and 
Turkey adopted policies based on Westernization 
patterns and the example of European countries. 
Modernization pattern in both countries were based 
on authoritarian development. As a result, modern-
ization was imposed on both societies from top to 
the bottom. Both Iran and Turkey were moving to-
ward secularism, albeit with different paces in each 
country. In Turkey, this process was accompanied 
with anti-religion practices. However, anti-religious 
practices in Iran were not as severe as those in Tur-
key (Volkan, 2017, 223). 
In his only foreign trip in June 1924, Reza Shah 
travelled to Turkey and adopted most of the modern 
and secular policies of the Turkish leader. Some 
of these policies are as follows: he established 
numerous state-controlled schools throughout the 
country which undermined the position of religious 
schools supervised by clerics; he substituted tra-
ditionally-educated judges with lawyers that had 
received academic and Western-type education; 
he revoked the prerogative right of clerics in estab-
lishing notary offices and transferred this right to 
non-religious individuals; he controlled the number 
of clerics and reduced their number through imple-
menting the law of the unified dressing code and 
making it compulsory upon clerics to participate in 
exams in order to receive the permission to wear 
the cleric’s cloths and turbans; he prohibited or 
limited the observation of many religious rituals, 
such as Ta’zieh Rituals which were practiced on the 
occasion of Imam Hussein’s martyrdom; he confis-
cated religious endowed properties on behalf of the 
state; and he prohibited Iranians from wearing the 
Pahlavi hat after his return from Turkey and made 
compulsory upon people to wear international hats 
(Movasaqi, 2001, 156–157).
Despite similarities between Reza Shah and 
Ataturk in pursuing their Westernization and secu-
larization policies, a comparison of their initiatives 
indicates that these initiatives are greatly different 
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in terms of intensity and diversity. Ataturk, for 
instance, introduced some initiatives which were 
not implemented in Iran. Some of these initiatives 
were as follows: declaring Turkey as a laic state; 
revoking the religious hierarchy and religious 
position of Sheikh al-Eslam; shutting down the 
Khanqahs (buildings designed specifically for 
gatherings of a Sufi brotherhood); prohibiting the 
use of religious symbols; formulating a European 
and anti-Islam civil law; changing the Turkish 
alphabet and calendar; making it mandatory to 
recite Quran, prayers, and Azan in Turkish lan-
guage; and substituting Friday with Sunday as the 
Sabbath (Koca, 2020, 359). In fact, it was impossi-
ble to carry out such initiatives in Iran. Unlike the 
religious position of Sheikh al-Eslam, which was 
a state-controlled position, the Shiite Marjaeyat 
had been an independent institution during the 
whole history of Iran. Therefore, Reza Shah was 
unable to revoke the position of Shiite Marjaeyat. 
In the Turkish civil law, which was mainly derived 
from the Swiss laws, men are not allowed to have 
more than one wife; women are eligible to have 
the right of divorce; Muslim women are allowed 
to marry with non-Muslim men; men and women 
are considered as equal, including in their ransom 
and inheritance; people are free to change their 
religion; Muslims and non-Muslims are deemed as 
equal; and Islamic penal laws are revoked (Coskun 
Can, 1997, 168). Iranian civil law was ratified by 
parliament in 1928. Despite the fact that general 
provisions of Iranian civil law were mainly transla-
tions from French laws, legal issues that deal with 
personal affairs were derived from Islamic law and 
jurisprudence (Makki, 1994, 323).
NATIONALISM, CULTURAL HOMOGENIZATION, 
AND EDUCATION SYSTEM
According to intellectuals of the Reza Shah 
era, the existence of different tribes and multiple 
ethnicities in Iran is considered as one of the 
major threats against the Iranian national unity. 
4 Due to ethnic and lingual diversity in Iran, the concept of nation in this country is a multi-ethnic and imbalanced concept. According to 
demographic statistics of Iran in 1930s, Persians comprised some 70 percent of the country’s population. Azeris with 15 to 17 percent of 
Iranian population were the second largest ethnic group in Iran. Sunni and Shiite Kurds living in west of Iran constituted 5 percent of the 
country’s population and were the third largest ethnic group in Iran. Arabs living in southwest of Iran and Baluchis residing in southeast of 
country constituted 3 and 2 percent of the Iranian population, respectively (Hafeznia, 2002, 147). According to the census, 98 percent of 
Iranian population were Muslims out of which 90 percent were Shiites and 8 percent were Sunnis. After Muslims, Christians constituted 
0.87 percent of the Iranian population and were deemed as the second religious group in the country. Zoroastrians and Jews constituted 
0.56 and 0.58 percent of the country’s population, respectively (Iranian Statistics Center, 1951, 8). Various Iranian ethnicities have always 
considered Persian language as their common cultural asset. This language has unified different ethnic groups and religious denomina-
tions living within the boundaries of cultural geography of Iran. All of them have played their role in the development of the Persian 
language. During the Constitutional Movement and following the development of printing industry and circulation of newspapers in Iran, 
the Persian language went through a simplification process and was further promoted in different parts of the country. During Reza Shah’s 
reign, Ministry of Education, Academy of Persian Literature, and mass media contributed to the omission pf alien terminologies from the 
Persian language. Through coining new terminologies, these institutions introduced new standard words and the Persian language was 
used as the official language in the education system of the country (Safaei, 1977, 66).
Therefore, they argued that after establishing order 
and serenity in the country, the government, as 
its most important responsibility, is to promote 
nation-building principles and strengthen the bases 
of national identity through advancing the idea of 
nationalism. The intellectuals also believed that the 
establishment of modern state in Iran requires less 
cultural diversity and greater tribal homogeneity. In-
tellectuals and cultural officials during Reza Shah’s 
reign consequently considered national unity as the 
eradication of all existing differences in terms of 
lifestyle, dress code, language, etc. This perception 
of national unity, which can be described as ‘cultu-
ral homogenization’, was concentrated on creating 
a totally united and homogenous nation through 
combining the diverse ethnicities, languages, and 
religious sects existing in the country. 
Statesmen and intellectuals of Reza Shah’s era 
were quite aware of the historical role of the Farsi 
language in strengthening national unity amongst 
all Iranian peoples (Atabaki & Zürcher, 2004, 
246). They believed that the existence of different 
local languages and dialects among Iranians was a 
serious obstacle to establishing a centralized po-
litical system and achieving national unity in the 
country (The Cambridge History of Iran, 1991, vii, 
231). Therefore, they argued, the government was 
required to mobilize all its material, spiritual, and 
propaganda potentials for the development of Farsi 
in those regions of the country which did not speak 
Farsi.4 
As a matter of fact, Reza Shah’s government and 
many intellectuals of that period were mainly con-
centrated on centralism and national unity among 
different Iranian ethnicities. According to them, 
concentration on nation-building and cultural 
homogenization among different Iranian ethnicities 
through promoting and strengthening the Farsi lan-
guage was the best way to achieve these objectives. 
As a result of the existence of an ancient-history-
-based nationalistic ideology, western-oriented and 
secular modernization objectives and programs, 
and national unity ideals, Reza Shah put the 
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education reform on the top of his political and 
social agenda of modernization program in Iran 
(Rahmanian, 2016, 214).5 By taking advantage of 
educational mechanisms and prerogative monopoly 
on determining the form and contents of education 
materials (Matthee, 2007, 335),  the government 
was trying to transfer its preferred values regarding 
the favourable social identity to its citizens (Akbari, 
2014, 271). 
In order to promote the government-sponsored 
ideology through public schools, the state had to prac-
tice its prerogative control over educational programs, 
the curriculum and textbooks. During this period and 
concurrent with the establishment of public schools 
in different parts of the country, especially ethnical 
regions such as Kurdistan, the government imposed 
constraints on private and foreign schools and religious 
educational institutions and practiced its prerogative 
control over the compilation of textbooks.
FOREIGN AND PUBLIC SCHOOLS TO FOLLOW THE 
MINISTRY OF EDUCATION’S PROGRAM DURING 
REZA SHAH’S REIGN
By the end of the Qajar dynasty, an integrated 
educational system had not been formed in the coun-
try, and the Qajar rulers had little involvement in the 
management of administration of schools. 
5 Ancient Iranian history refers to the pre-Islamic history of Iran. This ancient history is divided into two periods: the period before the 
arrival of Aryans in Iran; and the period after their arrival. Pre-Aryan ancient Iranian history is associated with the names of civilizations 
existing in Iranian Plateau which are dated back to as much as 5,000 years BC. For instance, we can refer to the civilization of Shahr-e 
Soukhteh (or burned city) in Sistan and Elam Civilization in Khuzestan which lasted from 4,000 BC up to 1,000 BC; Jiroft Civilization 
in Kerman, Tepe Hissar Civilization in Damghan, Tepe Sialk in Kashan, Uratu Civilization in Azerbaijan, etc. Since 1,000 BC, migrant 
Aryan tribes resided in Iranian Plateau (Diakonoff, 2001, 65). Among Aryan tribes residing in Iranian Plateau, the Medes were the first 
one that established a state headquartered in Hamadan, west of Iran, from 713 BC up to 550 BC. Establishment of the Median Empire 
is considered as a turning point in the ancient Iranian history, because it was the beginning of the Aryans’ surge toward establishment of 
ruling dynasties, which continued afterwards (Pigulevskaya et al., 1974, 12–13). In 550 BC, Cyrus captured the Median territory. He was 
the head of Pars Tribe, an Aryan tribe and a relative to the Medes. From 545 BC up to 539 BC, Cyrus captured major cities such as Balkh, 
Merv, and Sogdia and laid the foundation of an extensive kingdom. In 539 BC, he conquered Babylon, the politico-cultural center of the 
ancient Near East, and established the biggest kingdom of the world up to that time. After defeating Nabonidus, the last Babylonian king 
and conquering Babylon in 538 BC, Cyrus issued his famous charter, known as Cyrus Cylinder. The Cyrus Cylinder can be considered 
as the first charter of human rights. Achaemenid Empire reached its greatest extent during the reign of Darius I. the Achaemenid Dynasty 
wsa toppled by Alexander III of Macedon (also known as Alexander the Great). He defeated Darius III, the last Achaemenid king, in 
several wars in Mesopotamia. The final defeat happened in Darband in 330 BC as a result of which the Achaemenid Dynasty came to an 
end. When Alexander died confrontation and rivalry began among his successors. Finally, a Seleucid-Hellenic empire was established 
in Iran in 312 BC by Seleucus. Alien Seleucid Empire ruled over Iran for almost 150 years. In 247 BC, however, Arsaces I of Parthia, the 
leader of one of the Parthian tribes known as Parni Tribe, separated Parthia from the Seleucid Empire and declared its independence. 
Parthia was located in southeast of Caspian Sea and Arsaces I was ruling over this territory. After Arsaces I, his brother Tiridates I, defeated 
the Seleucid army and recaptured the lost cities and territories of the Achameneids. He established the Parthian Empire in 238 BC. Dur-
ing the reign of Mithridates I, the Parhian Empire reached to greatest extent of its power and revived Achameneid territory. Ruling over 
Iran for 470 years, the Parthian Empire had the longest reign of a dynasty in the ancient Iran. Following the defeat of the last Parthian 
monarch, Artabanus V, in a war with Ardahir Babakan, founder of the Sassanid Empire in 224 AD, the Parthian Empire was collapsed 
and substituted by the Sassanid Empire (Wiesehöfer, 2001, 198–201). During its reign, the Sassanid Dynasty had colossal civilization 
achievements for Iran and the world. Sassanid monarchs ruled over Iran from 224 AD up to 651 AD, when their dynasty was overthrown 
by Muslim Arabs. Following the collapse of the Sassanid Dynasty, the era of ancient Iran came to an end and the Islamic Period began in 
the country (Pigulevskaya et al., 1974, 67). Iranian romantic nationalists of the 19th and 20th centuries have always depicted Iran’s ancient 
history as a period of grandeur and glory – unlike the Islamic Period of Iranian history. Following archeological discoveries in Iran and 
decoding the Iranian ancient history by orientalists and Iranologists, such images and ideas were introduced in Iranian books and the 
education system of the period of Constitutional Movement. When the Pahlavi Dynasty was established, the Iranian government adopted 
the promotion of Iranian ancient history as its official ideology. 
Furthermore, Iran’s geopolitical position turned this 
country into the epicenter of competitions between its 
two major neighbors, i.e. Russia in north and UK in 
south. During 19th century, Russia’s policy was concen-
trated on getting access to the Persian Gulf. Russians 
did whatever they could to materialize the abovemen-
tioned objective, i.e. war with Iran in the early decades 
of the 19th century and annexation of Caucasus cities 
to Russia based on Golestan and Turkamanchai Agree-
ments; expanding Russia’s influence in Central Asia and 
annexation of some cities of this region to the Russian 
territory through imposing Akhal Agreement on Iran; 
and dividing Iran between Russia and Britain based on 
1907 Agreement. The British policy in the 19th century 
was concentrated on protecting its extensive and huge 
colony in India. As a result, Iran’s foreign policy – and 
even its domestic policy – was totally influenced by 
these two states. The only sphere in which other Euro-
pean states, such as France and the US, were allowed 
to participate was the sphere of education and religious 
missionary activities. In fact, there was no comprehen-
sive education system during the Qajar Period. As a 
result, Western Christian missionaries were provided 
with an opportunity to establish public education and 
charity centers and pursue their religious education 
and propagation objectives as freely as possible. Chri-
stian missionaries arrived in Iran during the reign of 
Mohammad Shah Qajar. The French Lazarist Catholic 
missionaries along with two protestant missionaries 
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from UK and US came to Iran and were granted the 
license of doing religious and educational activities in 
the country (Torabi Farsani, 2011, 83).
Out of these 3 missionaries, the American one ma-
naged to establish its first school in Iran in January 18, 
1836. Since then up to the end of Qajar Period, numerous 
schools were established in different Iranian cities by 
European and American missionary groups. Supported by 
the embassies of their respective countries in Iran, these 
missionary groups were involved in intensive competi-
tions for receiving concessions from the Iranian gover-
nment and gaining influence among minority Christians, 
especially the Armenians and the Assyrians (Soltanian, 
2011,69–70).
Contrary to modern education system adopted by 
missionary groups, Iranian education system was mainly 
based on traditional patterns supervised by religious 
clerics. Higher education was pursued in religious semi-
nary schools. Influenced by modern education system in 
Europe, some statesmen of the Qajar Period gradually 
embarked on expanding modern education throughout 
the country and established modern schools, first, in 
major cities and then developed such schools in other 
parts of Iran. This important development was further 
intensified after the establishment of Dar al-Fonoun in 
1852 (Mahboubi Ardakani, 1991, 408).
Despite extensive efforts for promoting the modern 
education system, only a small fraction of Iran’s po-
pulation was literate on the eve of the Constitutional 
Revolution. It was an indicator of the fact that modern 
education system cannot be promoted so easily in a reli-
gious and traditional society like Iranian society. In other 
words, mere sporadic efforts by a couple of people who 
were acquainted with modern education system were not 
sufficient for the development of this modern system thro-
ughout the country. Promotion of this modern education 
system was dependent on an all-out support by the state 
and required a formulated and regulated education plan. 
During the Constitutional Revolution and the formation 
of Iranian Constitution, Iranian politicians and intellec-
tuals realized the importance and necessity of promoting 
such a modern education system. Article 19 of Iranian 
Constitution stipulated: “Based on the laws of Ministry of 
Education, schools should be established by the state and 
through allocating public funds. Compulsory education is 
a must and all schools should be supervised and managed 
by the Ministry of Education.” (Etehadieh, 1982, 97) 
There were several articles in the Iranian Constitution 
which emphasized on the importance of public educati-
on. There were some provisions in the Constitution which 
highlighted that public education should be compulsory 
and free of charge. In 1911, Iranian Parliament ratified the 
Education Law which was comprised of 28 articles (Ete-
hadieh, 1982, 99). Ministry of Education had relatively 
good achievements during this period. As a result of these 
efforts, the number of Iranian students increased from 
57,000 in 1923 to 257,000 in 1936. During the same 
period, Iran had 11,370 teachers and 4,901 schools. In 
1940, there were 497,000 students, 13,646 teachers, and 
8,237 schools in the country (Ivanov, 1978, 86).
While modern education system was expanding in 
Iran, the number of religious and seminary schools was 
dwindling. In the education year of 1924–1925, for 
instance, there were 282 religious schools, and 5,984 
students went to these schools. However, in the educa-
tion year of 1940–1941, the number of such schools and 
students who went to these schools reduced to 206 and 
784, respectively. There were only 249 teachers in these 
seminary schools in the education year of 1940–1941 
(Ivanov, 1978, 87).
Reduction of students in religious schools and increa-
sed number of students in modern schools were directly 
related to Reza Shah’s educational and cultural policies. 
These policies were concentrated on introducing secu-
larism to education system of Iran and undermining the 
influence of clerics in the educational affairs of the co-
untry and reducing their role in this sphere. Emphasizing 
on sports and military exercises, the modern education 
system was, in fact, an anti-thesis to the old and traditio-
nal education system in Iran. 
Considering the fact that the budget of Jewish and 
Christian schools was provided by local people and 
the contributions of European countries, especially the 
French embassy, these schools enjoyed some indepen-
dence in running their own affairs and adopting their own 
training syllabus.
 This independence of finance and budget continued 
throughout the Qajar period and there were much oppo-
sition in accepting the government’s official curriculum 
and education system by the foreign-run schools. As 
mentioned in Moqbel’s report from Kurdistan in 1922, the 
two schools of Jewish and Christian minorities in Sanan-
daj did not implement the program introduced by the Mi-
nistry of Education: “Ministry of Education’s program has 
by no means been implemented in these two schools and 
they are seriously reluctant of accepting this program”. 
Elsewhere in his report, Moqbel refers to his negotiations 
with managers of these schools by convincing them to 
implement the Ministry of Education’s program (NLAI, 
1922, Sheet 7). Certainly, Iran’s government at the time 
was unable at first to make any interference in running 
the affairs of these schools and any such interference was 
faced with strong opposition from the French embassy. 
On March 14, 1922, for instance, the French embassy 
sent a letter to Prime Minister Qavam al-Saltaneh and 
complained over the increased interferences of Education 
Department of Kermanshah in the affairs of the Alliance 
Israelite School there. In this letter, the French embassy 
threatened that “if instructions are not issued to prevent 
the head of the Education Department of Kermanshah 
from making any interference in the affairs of the Alli-
ance Israelite School, necessary serious measures will 
be adopted by my government” (Farahani, 2006, 329). 
In another letter addressed to Qavam al-Saltaneh, the 
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French embassy expressed its surprise over the closure of 
another branch of Alliance Israelite schools and emphasi-
zed that this school acts according to instructions issued 
from France. In this letter, the French embassy had urged 
the Iranian government to allow the reopening of this Al-
liance Israelite school and the resumption of its activities 
under the protection of the French government. The letter 
then ended with a somewhat threatening tone that could 
result in retaliatory actions by the French governmnet: “I 
deem it as unnecessary to further remind His Highness 
over this issue” (Farahani, 2006, 373).
With Reza Shah’s ascendance to power in 1925, 
however, the state’s non-interference in the affairs of 
foreign and religious minority schools came to an end. It 
came to an end since most of Reza Shah’s actions were 
rooted in his desire to practice his control and supervision 
on all state affairs, particularly the government’s control 
over the education system and the implementation of a 
unified curriculum as set by the state (Menashri, 1992, 
137).
In order to practice its control on the curricula of re-
ligious minorities’ schools, the Reza Shah’s government, 
since the very beginning of Reza Shah’s rise to power, 
allocated some monthly financial contributions to these 
schools. These contributions came to the minority religi-
ous schools provided that their education syllabus would 
be compatible with the ratified program of the Ministry 
of Education including teaching Persian language and 
Iranian history and geography. Meanwhile, Ministry of 
Education’s inspectors were occasionally dispatched 
to these schools in order to test students in those fields 
(Nateq, 1996, 113).
In its report of December 16, 1926, to the Ministry of 
Education, the Kurdistan Education Department pointed 
out that a monthly contribution of 50 Tomans is paid to 
the Chaldean Catholics School in Sanandaj and “curren-
tly, education in this school is pursued according to the 
Ministry of Education’s program and all aspects of this 
program, except education of Koran and Islamic scriptu-
res, are observed there”. In this report, it has been pointed 
out that since students of this school are Jews and Christi-
ans, they have been allowed to learn their own religious 
books instead of Koran and Islamic texts. “Education 
Department is pleased with this success and it is expected 
to be honored by His Highness”, the report concluded 
(NLAI, 1926, Sheet 8). In 1929, Esfandyari, the head of 
the Education Department of Kurdistan, in another report 
writes on the condition of the Chaldean Catholics School 
in Sanandaj complaining that this school cannot simply 
be run by only 55 Tomans of monthly state contributions. 
Referring to his efforts for convincing the Christians resi-
ding in Sanandaj to increase their donations to the school, 
Esfandyari reiterates that the Christian community of the 
city has promised to “form a commission in near future in 
order to allocate some monthly donations to the school 
from students’ tuitions, contributions by rich individuals, 
and revenues obtained from the sale of alcoholic drinks”. 
Esfandyari made a visit to that school and upon finding 
out that the Christian community “has accommodated 
one of their priests in this school and that priest has used 
the school as his personal house”, he became angry and 
ordered the priest to gather his belongings and leave the 
school immediately (NLAI, 1935, Sheet 1–2). The content 
of this document indicates that the Education Department 
of Sanandaj has practiced its supervision over the affairs of 
religious minorities’ schools in that city, through occasio-
nal dispatching one of its inspectors. Generally speaking, 
during Reza Shah’s reign, the government did accept to 
bear some expenditure of religious minorities’ schools, 
provided that it can have total control over their educa-
tion syllabus and methodology. In fact, compatibility of 
these schools’ curricula with the Ministry of Education’s 
programs has been one of the preconditions for receiving 
the state contributions. 
Chart 1:  Statistical Comparison of Students at Jewish and Christi-
an Schools in Sanandaj during the Reza Shah Period.
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TEACHING THE PERSIAN LANGUAGE IN FOREIGN 
AND PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND CHANGING THEIR 
NAMES
Enhancement and expansion of the Persian lan-
guage was one of the main missions of the official 
education system during Reza Shah’s reign. It was 
considered as one of the major pillars of nationalism 
in order to strengthen national unity. Therefore, es-
tablishment and expansion of educational institutions 
in different parts of the country, especially in tribal 
regions, became significantly important (Dehqani et 
al., 2017, 153). In a confidential letter to the Ministry 
of Interior Affairs on February 27, 1932, the governor 
of Kurdistan considered “the establishment of numer-
ous schools in the city and villages and dispatching 
teachers from the capital to these schools” as a ‘neces-
sity’. Because the people of Kurdistan “as a result of 
receiving basic educations, finally are estranged from 
their Kurdish language and are no longer familiar with 
this language” (NLAI, 1931, Sheet 3).
For the promotion of the Persian language in tribal 
regions, the Reza Shah government did not merely 
suffice itself to the establishment and development 
of state schools in these regions. Rather, it created 
constraints for the usage of local languages in tribal 
regions and endeavored to dispatch non-indigenous 
teachers, who had no familiarity with the indigenous 
local languages in tribal areas” (Rasouli et al., 2016, 
85). In a circulation, issued on September 6, 1928, 
the Kurdistan Department of Education instructed all 
governmental and non-governmental schools as fol-
lows: “All school staff are obliged to observe measures 
for the promotion of the Persian language so that both 
teachers and students speak the Persian language 
specifically” (NLAI, 1928, Sheet 19).
Efforts for using the Persian language for educa-
tional purposes were not limited to state schools. On 
October 13, 1927, Ministry of Education issued a cir-
culation that required all foreign and national schools 
belonging to religious minorities to “teach the Persian 
language to Iranian children, including Muslims, Ar-
menians, and Assyrian, since grade one”. This circu-
lation emphasized that schools that refuse to comply 
with this order would be closed (NLAI, 1936d, Sheet 
25). When this circulation was issued, these schools’ 
authorities requested the Ministry of Education to ex-
empt them from complying with its provisions. They 
argued that it is not common to speak the Persian lan-
guage in regions in which Armenians and Assyrians 
are living. Therefore, they requested from the Ministry 
of Education to exempt these schools from observing 
this law and allow them to start teaching the Persian 
language to their students from grade three. Ministry 
of Education, however, rejected their request and 
emphasized that students “should start their educa-
tion with the Persian language since the first year, i.e. 
when they are 7 years old” (NLAI, 1936d, Sheet 25). A 
study on the curricula of religious minorities’ schools 
in the city of Sanandaj indicates that these schools 
have followed the provisions of the above-mentioned 
circulation. According to this study, teachers in the 
Alliance Israelite school of Sanandaj in June 1929 
taught the Persian language reading and essay writing 
to their students as follows: 14 hours for Grade one; 8 
hours for Grade two; and 6 hours for Grades three and 
four (NLAI, 1936e, Sheet 3).
Establishing the Academy of Persian Language 
and changing the foreign names of many shops, 
centers, and schools were amongst the government’s 
initiatives in this regard (Hekmat, 1976, 146). As 
some sources have indicated, Reza Shah hated Eu-
ropean terminologies. For example when traveling 
to the city of Khorramabad in 1929 Reza Shah vis-
ited the Alliance Israelite school and was seriously 
infuriated upon hearing the foreign name of this 
school (Valizadeh, 2003, 226). In 1934, the Ministry 
of Education issued a circulation addressing the 
provincial Education Departments and urged them 
to oblige Armenian, American, and Alliance schools 
change their names and “based on their location and 
position, adopt a Persian name for themselves – for 
instance, adopt the name of one of the Iranian his-
torical figures”. This circulation recommended the 
provincial Education Departments “implementing 
this initiative immediately and reporting the outcome 
of their efforts in this regard” (Ettela’at, 1934, 8). Ac-
cordingly, “Le Lycée Franco-Persian” was renamed 
as “Razi High School”; Saint Louis School was 
renamed as “Tehran School”; ‘Jeanne d‘Arc School’ 
was renamed as “Manouchehri School”; ‘American 
School for Girls’ was renamed as “Nourbakhsh 
School”; ‘American School for Boys’ was renamed as 
“Alborz High School”, and the ‘French Alliance’ was 
renamed as “Ettehad School” (NLAI, 1934a, Sheet 1). 
Before the issuance of the above-mentioned circula-
tion, the Chaldean Catholics School in Sanandaj had 
been renamed as ‘Pahlavi Primary School’. In 1935, 
the Alliance Israelite Primary School of this city was 
renamed as Ferdousi School (NLAI, 1934b, Sheet 8). 
After a year, however, the Alliance Israelite School 
of Sanandaj, like other Alliance schools throughout 
the country, was changed to “Ettehad” (Yearbook of 
the Education Department of Kurdistan 1936–1937, 
1937, 172).
INSUFFICIENT BUDGETS TO RELIGIOUS 
MINORITIES’ SCHOOLS AND EFFORTS 
FOR CLOSING THEM
Concurrent with the development of the state-
-run schools in different regions of the country, the 
government was dissatisfied with the performance of 
foreign and religious minorities’ schools, especially 
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their programs for teaching languages such as French 
and Hebrew. By allocating insufficient budgets to 
these schools, therefore, the government tried to 
undermine their activities and force their students to 
register in state schools. Accordingly, the government 
always ignored the demands of Christian and Jewish 
communities for increasing the state contributions 
allocated to their schools. In 1927, the Jewish com-
munity wrote a letter to the Ministry of Education 
and requested for an increase to the budget of Jewish 
minority schools, “which have been teaching based 
on programs put forward by the respectful Ministry of 
Education”. In their letter, the Jewish community had 
requested for a monthly contribution of 30 Tomans 
for each of their schools in the cities of Bushehr 
and Yazd and 20 Tomans for each of their schools 
in the cities of Sanandaj, Hamadan, Golpaygan, and 
Rasht. The Ministry of Education, however, rejected 
this request and emphasized that “we do not have 
surplus credits for such expenditures” (NLAI 1936f, 
Sheet 31). 
Referring to the Jewish community’s request from 
the Ministry of Education “to allocate a monthly 
contribution of 100 Tomans to the Alliance Israelite 
School in the current year”, the Education Department 
of Kurdistan argued that the budget for 1929 has been 
finalized and ratified and their request is “unacceptable 
and meaningless” (NLAI, 1936f, Sheet 34). In the same 
year, i.e., 1929, the Jewish community of Sanandaj 
wrote another letter to the Ministry of Education and 
observed: “It is almost 10 years that Alliance Israelite 
Committee has been unable to provide the required 
budget for this school. We have managed to run this 
school for 8 years. However, the Jewish community 
with a population of almost 2,000 poor individuals is no 
longer able to meet this school’s financial requirements 
Image 1: The Christian Community of Sanandaj’s request for reversing the decision to change the Pahlavi 
Chaldean School into a State School (National Library and Archives of Iran, Document Code No. 14372/297).
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such that the school is on the verge of the impending 
closure”. At the end of their letter, the Jewish commu-
nity had requested the Ministry of Education to provide 
their school with sufficient contributions (NLAI, 1936f, 
Sheet 2–3). 
In the same year, the Jewish community wrote 
a private letter directly to Reza Shah and requested 
the monarch to help them. The Special Royal Office 
sent their request to the Ministry of Education and 
the Department of Public Education of that ministry 
replied their letter as follows: “Due to lack of neces-
sary credit, no proper and effective measures can 
be adopted for the time being”; however, in order 
to prevent any interruption in the education of the 
Jewish community’s children, it urged the Education 
Department of Kurdistan to register these children in 
state schools (NLAI, 1936f, Sheet 37). The Education 
Department of Kurdistan’s letter of January 1930 to the 
Ministry of Education indicates that state schools in 
Western Iran “especially in Hamadan, Kermanshah, 
Kurdistan, and Qasr-e Shirin, accepted to register the 
children of Jewish and Christian communities” and a 
large number of them were studying in state schools 
(NLAI, 1936f, Sheet 48). This document specifies that 
parents of Jewish and Christian children in many parts 
of Iran, including Kurdistan, due to their economic 
and financial problems and high costs of studying 
in their communities’ peculiar schools, have refused 
to register their children in such schools and instead 
have registered them in state schools that provided 
free-of-charge education to children. 
In its letter of February 12, 1930, to the Ministry of 
Education, the Jewish community of the city of Bijar 
wrote: “Due to the reduced budget and lack of neces-
sary credits to pay the teachers’ salaries, our school 
is rapidly moving toward dissolution”. Elsewhere in 
their letter, they emphasized the fact that “we have 
repeatedly, by writing either to the local education 
department or directly to the Ministry of Education, 
requested for contributions to our schools in order to 
prevent their closure; unfortunately, we have received 
disappointing answers in all these correspondence”. 
During this period, the letter pointed out that, “edu-
cation has been provided for all towns and villages 
throughout the country; unfortunately, this miserable 
Jewish community has totally been deprived of benefits 
of such an initiative”. “Based on the law of equality”, 
therefore, they request the Ministry of Education “to 
pay due attention to their community’s school in the 
annual budget of 1931” (NLAI, 1936f, Sheet 49–50). 
Rejection of their request by the Ministry of Education 
urged them to raise similar demands in upcoming 
years to receive budgets for handling the chaotic 
condition of their schools. In 1936, for instance, the 
Kurdistan Jewish community requested the Ministry of 
Education to allocate a monthly contribution of 300 
Rials to their school. As usual, the Ministry of Educati-
on once again rejected their request under the pretext 
of “lack of credits”. However, the Ministry ordered the 
Education Office of Garous (Bijar) “to register children 
of the Jewish community in state primary schools so 
that they can continue their education easily” (NLAI, 
1936g, Sheet 3–6). 
In its letter of June 21, 1936, to the Ministry of 
Education, the Education Department of Kurdistan 
wrote that the Pahlavi National Primary School in 
Sanandaj, which belonged to the Chaldean Catholics, 
“receives a monthly contribution of 550 Rials from 
the state. For two years, we have, through numerous 
correspondents, endeavored to increase this sum. Un-
fortunately, we have so far been unable to achieve our 
objective and nothing has been done in this regard. In 
the current year, this school had 4 students in grade 6 
all of whom have failed to pass final exams”. Therefo-
re, “it is no longer required to waste the state budget. 
For this reason, it is proposed that either the state’s 
contributions to this school are cut and its grade 5 and 
grade 6 classes are dissolved or the credit allocated to 
this school is raised and it is turned into a state primary 
school” (NLAI, Document Code No. 16254/297,1936, 
Sheet: 1). Issuing necessary instructions, Ministry of 
Education urged the Chaldean Catholics School of 
Sanandaj to turn into a state school. Consequently, the 
Christian community of Sanandaj wrote a letter to the 
Ministry of Education and complained of instructions 
issued by that ministry. They requested the Ministry of 
Education’s officials to allow them to maintain their 
independence as a primary school and as a national 
educational institute and increase state contributions 
to this school (NLAI, 1936c, Sheet 4–6).
In 1936, the Education Office in the city of 
Saqqez, in Iranian Kurdistan, ordered the closure of 
a newly established Jewish primary school, which 
taught the Hebrew language. This school had been 
constructed by the Jewish community of the city. 
Authorities closed this school because, as they ar-
gued, “teaching the Hebrew language to students, 
who are under 7 years old, is contrary to educational 
laws and regulations” (NLAI, 1936b, Sheet 4). For 
this reason, the Jewish community of Saqqez wrote a 
letter to the Ministry of Education and protested aga-
inst “the total closure of the Jewish Hebrew School 
of Saqqez by the head of the Education Office of this 
city” (NLAI, 1936b, Sheet 5). Ministry of Education, 
however, wrote a letter to the Education Department 
of Kurdistan and observed: “It is necessary to order 
all children of the Jewish community of Saqqez to 
get registered in the state primary school of that city 
and report the results to the Ministry of Education 
immediately” (NLAI, 1936b, Sheet 6).
These documents indicate that, during the Reza 
Shah’s reign, the government has totally welcomed 
the closure of national schools belonging to religious 
minorities. The government cut its contributions, 
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particularly financial, to Jewish and Christian schools 
under various pretexts in order to have those schools 
closed and force Jewish and Christian communities to 
register their children in state-owned schools. Despite 
its numerous financial problems and reduction of 
state contributions to religious minorities’ schools, 
the Jewish community’s school in Sanandaj survived 
up to the end of the academic year of 1939–1940. 
However, lack of any reference to the statistics of this 
school in the Yearbook of the Ministry of Education 
indicates that it had been closed during the last year 
of Reza Shah’s reign.
Image 2: The request of the Jews of Garous for receiving financial contribution 
for the Alliance Israelite School and its rejection by Ministry of Education (Na-
tional Library and Archives of Iran, Document Code No. 14224/297).
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CONCLUSION
After assuming power in 1925, Reza Shah promo-
ted and strengthened nationalism in Iran and moved 
toward nation-building and enhancing national unity. 
Since the expansion of public education within the 
context of schools was one of the key instruments for 
creating a national identity, the government underli-
ned the issues of culture and education and practiced 
a monopolized prerogative control over the curricula 
in both state and non-state schools. Since the very 
beginning of his rule, Reza Shah paid contributions 
to foreign and national schools belonging to religious 
minorities with the intention to gradually oblige them 
to follow the Ministry of Education’s programs. What’s 
more interesting is that under Reza Shah’s rule, the 
Ministry of Education tried to enforce these minori-
ty-religious schools to teach the Persian language 
and Iranian history and geography as a compulsory 
curriculum. Findings of the present research indi-
cates that although Jewish and Christian minorities’ 
schools in Sanandaj followed the instructions of the 
Ministry of Education, the government was not so 
much interested in the expansion of these schools 
and the continuation of their activities. By refusing 
the repeated requests of the authorities of Jewish 
and Christian minorities’ schools for increasing the 
state contributions to these schools, the government 
prepared the context for their closure and absorbing 
their students in the state-run schools. Despite the fact 
that the government had adopted such a policy and 
although religious minorities’ schools were severely 
suffering from a lack of financial resources, Jewish 
and Christian minorities’ schools in Sanandaj were 
not totally closed. However, the government was 
trying to close these schools under different pretexts. 
Generally speaking, it can be argued that concurrent 
with the expansion of state schools throughout the 
country during Reza Shah’s reign, the government 
adopted different initiatives to constrain the activities 
of non-state schools and even have them closed in 
order to practice its monopolized control over the 
nation’s education system. The Chaldean Catholics 
and Alliance Israelite schools in Sanandaj were not 
an exemption from this procedure and government 
policies of the time. Adoption of such a policy resul-
ted in changes in the names of these schools based 
on nationalistic and pan-Iranian policies and the 
government’s educational programs. Meanwhile, the 
perilous economic condition of religious minorities’ 
schools in Sanandaj and pressures exercised by state 
institutions, such as the Ministry of Education, forced 
the Jewish and Christian communities of this city to 
close their schools and register their children in state 
schools. 
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors wish to acknowledge the contributions 
made by the following people to the research investi-
gation and the preparation of the manuscript here in:
1. Julie Monti Safari, freelance English language 
instructor and manuscript preparation consul-
tant, for editing and finalizing this article. 
2. Farzan Safari Sabet, Master of World Studies 
graduate of the University of Tehran speciali-
zing in Indian Subcontinent studies, for editorial 
assistant services.
Chart 2: Statistical Comparison of Students at Jewish and Christian 
Schools in Sanandaj during the Reza Shah Period.  
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UČINKI KULTURNIH POLITIK V OBDOBJU REZE ŠAHA NA POLOŽAJ ŠOL JUDOVSKE 
IN KRŠČANSKE MANJŠINE V SANANDADŽU
Reza DEHGHANI
Univerza v Teheranu, Fakulteta za svetovne študije, Oddelek za zahodnoazijske in severnoafriške študije, 
Northern Campus, North Kargar Avenue, 16th street, 1439814411 Tehran, Iran
e-mail: rdehghani@ut.ac.ir
Rahmat HAJIMINEH
Islamska univerza Azad, podružnica Vzhodni Teheran, Oddelek za komunikologijo in družboslovje, 
Shahid Bahonar St., Qiamadasht, Imam Reza Highway, Km 18, 1866113118 Tehran, Iran
e-mail: r.hajimineh@gmail.com
Hossein RASSOULI
Baran 2nd Street 94, Farhangian Quarter, Sardasht, 5961849611 West Azarbaijan Province, Iran
e-mail: hosseinrasouli57@yahoo.com
POVZETEK
Reza Šah Pahlavi, splošno poznan kot Reza Šah, si je v prvi polovici 20. stoletja načrtno prizadeval za 
krepitev in širjenje nacionalizma ter kulturne homogenizacije v Iranu, ki naj bi pripomogla k izgradnji države 
ter k intelektualni in duhovni enotnosti iranske večetnične družbe. Osrednji pomen izobraževalnih institucij za 
razvoj državne nacionalistične in ideologije in dogme v tem obdobju ter vladni monopol nad vsebino in obliko 
izobraževalnega sistema sta poganjala nadaljnje utrjevanje in širitev mreže javnih šol. Reza Šah je s svojimi poli-
tikami začel v ta namen spodbujati popoln vladni nadzor nad nacionalnim kurikulumom in njegovim izvajanjem 
v tujih in državnih šolah, še zlasti v tistih, ki so vključevale populacije verskih manjšin, s čimer je poskrbel za 
brezizjemno izvajanje programov, ki jih je določalo Ministrstvo za izobraževanje. Pričujoča raziskava skuša na 
osnovi arhivskih dokumentov in virov podati pregled ciljev in postopkov oblikovanja politik, ki jih je za nejavne 
šole določala vlada Reze Šaha, obenem pa preučiti učinek teh politik na državne šole judovskih in krščanskih 
manjšin v mestu Sanandadž (v iranskem Kurdistanu). 
Ključne besede: Reza Šah, Sanandadž, Kurdistan, manjšinske šola, nacionalizem, iranski judje in kristjani, 
nacionalni kurikulum
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