The following is the full text of the speech delivered on May 2, 2006 by Ayatollah Khamenei, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, in a meeting with teachers from throughout the country.
In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
First of all, I would like to welcome all the dear brothers and sisters and the diligent teachers of the educational system of the country. Every year, we have a meeting with the dear teachers on the occasion of Teachers' Day, but it is the first time that this friendly and fairly long meeting - that we are going to hold - is being held in this place. I am glad that I am going to spend some time with scholars, teachers and the diligent personalities who are active in educating the new generation of the country.
I commemorate the pure soul of Shahid Motahhari, the souls of two outstanding martyrs of the educational system - Shahid Rajai and Shahid Bahonar - and other dear martyrs. Primarily, this meeting is a symbolic meeting for showing our respect to teachers. By showing our respect to you dear ones who are present in this place, we are respecting the great society of teachers throughout the country. By doing so, we are saying to them that we appreciate the value of their existence, their profession and their efforts. Secondly, this meeting is an opportunity for us to listen to - in a direct way and beyond some reports and writings - those people who are rendering services in the depth of the vast ocean of education.
If there is enough time at the end of this meeting, I will say a few things. But if there is not any time, benefiting from your statements will be enough for me. In any case, I hope that by Allah's favor, this meeting will be an auspicious one and that it will get us and the family of education in our country one step closer to the heavy responsibility that falls on the shoulders of this great organization for the future and fate of this country.
This meeting has been a very good meeting so far. The statements that the friends made were expert opinions. You yourselves are teachers and you are completely aware of the responsibilities of the educational system and people like us pay attention to your opinions. I have written down some points about the statements of the friends in this meeting. Of course, some statements were a repetition of others' statements and they stressed the importance of their ideas. Implementing part of these opinions is the responsibility of the honorable Minister and high-ranking managers of the Ministry of Education - they are present here - and part of these opinions is beyond the responsibility and capabilities of the Ministry of Education. They fall on the shoulders of the administration. By Allah's favor, I too will offer my words of advice and recommendations in this regard.
What is important is that education is the foundation of the future of the country. All of you are aware of this and it was repeated in the statements of the friends in the meeting. When we try to get to the root of our problems in moral, behavioral and scientific areas, in the area of national and public self-confidence and in other areas, we see that they are related to education. As a number of friends said, the educational system is a center whose yield and output comes late. However, it is a vital, determining and permanent output. If education is improved and corrected in a country, it will influence the economy, health, the natural environment, mortality rate, fertility, aesthetics and art, the people's behavior towards one another in society and most importantly, it will influence religion, philosophy and ethics.
Today, they teach philosophy to children in the world by using children's language. This is something that looks meaningless to the decision-makers of our country. They think that philosophy is particular to adults and those who are fairly old. Today, adopting a modern outlook towards the important matters of life has helped the scientific leaders of the world to teach philosophy to children in elementary schools. Of course, they use children's language. I mentioned this as an example so that it becomes clear how influential education can be in the future of a country. Of course, this issue is clear enough for you.
In the present time, knowledge-based economy, politics and society is among global slogans. If we do not want to fall behind the caravan of global movements - let alone play a determining and stimulating role in them - we have no option other than taking a major and fundamental look at the educational system. The same is true of the issue of justice. A number of friends pointed to the issue of justice in the educational system. If we attend to the issue of justice in the management of the educational system, the result will be that in the future of the country, justice will be administered for different classes of people and for different areas of the country. Today, if we do not adopt a justice-based outlook in the educational system, the result will be that class differences and inequalities will increase on a daily basis in the future. Notice how influential the educational system is.
Adopting an injustice-based outlook means that we have very advanced and well-equipped schools in certain areas and we have underprivileged and primitive schools in certain other areas. It means that we give prominent and outstanding teachers to some schools and tired and incompetent teachers to some others. This is exactly against the justice-based outlook. What will the result of this be? The result will be that a group of our children will benefit from excellent and first-class education without any reason - they only have money or they live in wealthy neighborhoods - and another group will remain at very low levels. The latter will not move forward and their talents will not be cultivated. Of course, justice does not mean that we behave in the same way towards all talents. After all, talents are different. We should not allow any talent to be wasted and we should think of some ways for this. There is no doubt about this, but the standard and the main criterion should be talents and nothing else. Justice is this.
So, the conclusion that we draw is that education is the main substance and - as architects and builders say - the main foundation of the lofty structure that we want to build for the future of our country. It is a fact that westerners have kept us behind them for decades and these decades coincided with the era of scientific blossoming and progress. Today, we should sweat, show diligence and utilize all our capabilities to bridge this gap as much as we can. I believe on the basis of experience and the opinions of experts that we can do so. This is not something which is impossible. There are many short cuts in the universe and divine traditions. The greatest feat and achievement is to find these short cuts. Therefore, we can do this, but it requires diligence.
With this introduction, what becomes completely clear to us is the thing that a number of you brothers and sisters said. I myself deeply believe in your idea that the educational system is our most important generator and producer, not a consumer. We should invest in the educational system. This investment is not only about money. Money is only part of the investment that we should make. More important than money is thinking. The best and most prominent minds should sit and plan for the educational system. The philosophy of Islamic education should be clear and on the basis of this philosophy, the future horizon of the educational system of the country should become clear as well.
It should be clear what we are looking for and where we want to go. And on the basis of this thought, plans should be formulated and paths should be drawn. We need this. The educational system should get rid of clichés and routine procedures. This is the basis of the issue. Of course, this is primarily addressed to the honorable Minister of the Ministry of Education and the high-ranking officials of the educational system and secondly to all those people who are involved in the educational process and all those who can exert their influence in liberating the educational system from clichés and from being a slave of old-fashioned methods.
I would like to add two, three short points. One is the issue of moral education. The organization of the deputy or center - whatever you might call it - in charge of moral education is the responsibility of the honorable officials in the educational system. This deputy received little or no attention. The day when they eliminated deputies in charge of moral education on different levels, I expressed my opposition in an outspoken way. I was told that they are not going to ignore my advice, but they did so.
Apart from attending to the issue of education, the most important task that should be carried out is to attach significance to moral education in all its forms. This is not because we are Muslims. The issue is not only this. Today, in many countries in the western world - which is known for its advanced science and technology - the issue of moral education is among the main principles. They have officials in charge of this matter. They attach significance to the issue of moral education. Moral education does not only mean becoming religious and pious. This is not the reason why we want to pursue it. Moral education shows itself in behavior, growth of character, strengthening self-confidence and cultivating talents. Therefore, this matter is a very important one.
Another point that I would like to raise is the issue of the Holy Quran in education. The Holy Quran has really been ignored in the educational system. Once - a few years ago - an honorable clergy man who was very well-informed about promotional activities discussed a point with me. When I listened carefully, I saw that it was correct and that it was compatible with my own experience. He said, "When I meet with intellectuals in other Islamic - mostly Arab - countries, I see that even those intellectuals who are not religious are familiar with the Holy Quran. But when I look at intellectuals in our country, I see that many of them are not familiar with the Holy Quran at all and they do not know Quranic concepts. But intellectuals in Arab countries are completely familiar with it. Of course, I do not mean religious intellectuals because some of our intellectuals, who are not few in number, are familiar with Islamic and Quranic intellectuals. Thankfully, such intellectuals have increased in number".
It was this gentleman who said this to me and I found it to be correct. Since many years ago until today, we have been in touch with politicians and political and cultural personalities in Arab countries. They use Quranic ayahs in their statements the way we use Saadi's poems in our statements. All the people are familiar with "Anyone who is knowledgeable is powerful". We use Saadi's and Hafiz's poems in our daily conversations, in politics and in different intellectual environments. They use the Holy Quran in the same way, but we do not.
The reason is that for a long time, the Holy Quran was ignored in our educational system - particularly when we were at the age of primary learning. In the past - during our childhood - it existed to some extent, but later on, it gradually decreased and it was finally eliminated. After the victory of the Revolution, we expected to see a fundamental task in this regard. Certain tasks have been carried out, but we really feel the absence of the Holy Quran in different educational levels - whether in elementary, secondary or high schools. This should be thought about. Of course, this should not be imposed and it should not be done in a discouraging way. Rather, it should be done in a proper and correct way.
Today, before I came to this meeting, they brought me a book from an Arab country. It is an Arabic dictionary which has artistically used Quranic ayahs as part of Arab literature. Of course, Arabic speakers are lucky that they can use the Holy Quran for their literature. We cannot do this because Persian literature is not directly related to the Holy Quran. The Holy Quran should be translated for us. However, this [using the Holy Quran in our statements] is a need. Fortunately today, the Quranic movement enjoys a good condition in the country, but it should be institutionalized in the educational system.
The role of teachers is an important one. One of the things which made me very happy is centers of educating teachers. I witnessed that many friends in this meeting highlighted it. I have advised both former and current officials to attend to these centers because they are very important. We need knowledgeable, well-informed, competent and professional teachers for our purpose. We cannot employ any unemployed individual to teach, particularly in those fields which is not their area of expertise. In many schools, we give our religious classes to those individuals who do not have any expertise in the area of ethics. This is not right.
In any case, we are in a good era. The administration of hard work and diligence has held office. The goals of the Revolution and different matters are being attended to. We should make the most of this era. All those individuals who have expertise in the area of education should cooperate in this regard. The honorable officials should utilize these resources and capabilities so that they can build a firm foundation for education. We should bring about a transformation in our educational system by considering the transformation that exists in the country and by considering the future that we have portrayed for ourselves. And the main standard for this is the 20-year strategic plan which is a very valuable plan. We need a transformation in our educational system.
In any case, it was a good meeting. It was a good day for us and as I said, although we benefitted from the statements of the friends and although I myself raised certain points, the main purpose of this meeting was to express our respect to teachers and the great family of the educational system. They deserve to be respected and admired. I hope that God willing, your efforts and the efforts of all officials will be accepted by God. I hope that your efforts receive the attention of the Imam of the Age (a.s.) and that they satisfy the pure souls of martyrs and the immaculate soul of our magnanimous Imam (r.a.).
Greetings be upon you and Allah's mercy and blessings