The following is the full text of the speech delivered on May 8, 2013 by Ayatollah Khamenei the Leader of the Islamic Revolution in a meeting with a group of teachers in Tehran.
In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
I would like to welcome all you dear brothers and sisters who have - or will have - the honor of serving as teachers and educators in an Islamic society. This is indeed a great honor.
I commemorate our honorable martyr, Shahid Motahhari (may Allah the Exalted bestow paradise on him), as well as our teachers and students who were martyred during the Sacred Defense Era and gave rise to one of the most beautiful and glorious events. I hope that by Allah's favor, you dear teachers and officials of the Ministry of Education will continue benefiting from divine assistance and make the fruitful and blessed tree of education more auspicious for our country and our nation on a daily basis.
The first point is that this meeting has been arranged to honor our teachers. I often discuss the matters that are related to education and educational organizations of the country in my meetings with executive officials. In this meeting, what is of primary importance to us is to show our heartfelt respect that is worthy of education. The most important point is that teaching should have the position it deserves in our Islamic society. It would be very narrow-minded to consider teaching among other ordinary professions, to think of teaching as a way of earning a living. This should not be the case. Teaching is not at the level of other professions: it is far more important.
If we pay attention to the essence of education and the position of teachers, we can draw an analogy between a teacher and a person who polishes a precious stone and increases its value. Our children - who will be our future generations - are like the precious stone in our analogy. It is you teachers who shape their personalities. Your responsibility is not limited to teaching them a couple of facts in your classes. Your behavior, your actions and your moves directly affect your impressionable audience and shape their personality. And everything you teach them will stay with them for a very long time. Even after the passage of fifty, sixty years, one remembers many of the details that were taught at school. Many of the things that a school teacher conveys to his students through the way he behaves, speaks and interacts with his students, will stay in the minds of his students. Sometimes we are conscious of this and some other times we are not. Without knowing, all of us are moving on the path that has been determined mainly by our teachers. This is a very important point.
If a country is determined to achieve glory, well-being and wealth, if a country is determined to achieve scientific progress and superiority, if a country is determined to build courageous, liberated, understanding, wise and intellectual individuals for human communities, it should take care of this essential foundation - namely, educating children and teenagers. This shows the importance of the position that teachers enjoy. Therefore, it is necessary to show a lot of respect for teachers. In order to prepare teachers appropriately, it is necessary to invest a lot of time. In order to create the mechanisms that contribute to the effectiveness of education and give it a direction, it is necessary to make a lot of investments. This is why over the past years, we have been stressing the necessity of introducing a fundamental change into the educational system. Thankfully, the document that has been prepared for this change is available to the Ministry of Education and in fact the roadmap has been prepared. Changing human beings and introducing appropriate changes into the hearts, belief systems and behavior of people requires a solid foundation: this foundation is the educational system.
The day our current educational system was developed, it was built on a different set of intellectual and ideological foundations. Over the decades since the current educational system was introduced into our country, we have been moving ahead on the basis of the same foundations. In fact, we have been moving along the same tracks that were built at that time, which was not the right thing to do. The document for introducing fundamental change into the educational system should help us move towards Islamic goals. It should help our society move towards a truly Islamic lifestyle. It should create noble human characteristics in us. Today we witness certain shortcomings in ourselves and in our behavior. It is necessary to eliminate these shortcomings. Our Iranian society enjoys massive capacities. It is necessary to prepare the ground for the actualization of these capacities and to channel them into the right direction. The document for introducing fundamental change into the educational system aims for such a goal.
It was mentioned that the document requires certain infrastructural elements. I would like to take this opportunity to say that the document for introducing fundamental change into the educational system is a document that must be operationalized, but under no circumstances should we take hasty actions. It is necessary to move ahead in wise and careful way while taking different aspects into consideration. The work that should be done is deep. Measures that are deep do not produce yields in the short term. They take time and they produce yields in the long term. If they are carried out in the right way, they will be fruitful and effective and if they are done in a hasty and careless way, they will not produce good results. There is a narration which says, "One who picks fruit before ripening is like one who cultivates another person's field." If you pick fruit before it is ripe, you do not gain anything and your hard work goes to waste. Let fruit ripen before you pick it so that you can reap all the benefits.
Maybe numerous research projects are required to operationalize parts of this document so that these tracks are built in the right way and the train of change moves along them. Of course, it is necessary that both the executive branch of government and the Majlis reflect on this issue and take appropriate measures to provide financial support for the educational system and its progress. We cannot afford to abandon the educational system and fail to provide the kind of support that it requires, and then expect it to make progress.
Thankfully, many good things have been done over the past years. I have received certain reports in this regard. What has been done is good. There are many things that we should have done and if we fail to take action today, it will definitely be too late. There is a long list of things that we should do. By Allah's favor, the honorable government officials in charge of our educational system will pay attention to these points.
The issue of teacher training universities is also very important. It is among the things to which we should pay serious attention. A teacher who has not built his own personality will not be able to teach anything to his students. Teacher training universities are where teachers develop their personality. Although these universities are operating under the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Higher Education should offer the necessary support to these universities. These are the things that should be done in the area of education.
The Ministry of Education is not an ordinary organization like other organizations. It is an essential center. You may think of it as the engine of a train, or as the storeroom of an organization. In any case, it is different from other executive organizations. The deep and fundamental work that is done in that ministry is so much that the other ministries cannot rival it. Even in the case of similar ministries - which are involved in cultural work - their responsibility does not enjoy as much subtlety and precision as is necessary in the Ministry of Education. In any case, it is a very important organization.
I would like to express my gratitude to the honorable teachers who have chosen this profession and have decided to shoulder these responsibilities. There are many teachers who could have chosen a different career and earn more money or even achieve more political and social opportunities, but they decided to devote themselves to education, which is very valuable. Over these years, our teachers have always stood up for the interests of the Revolution. One example is the Sacred Defense and the imposed war: as I mentioned earlier, many school teachers and students were martyred during the war. There are other examples as well. Many people had plans for our teachers and schools. They were after political goals, but it was our teachers who stood up against them. All of these things are virtues as far as Allah the Exalted is concerned. They are effective and important things that might look inappropriate to some people on many occasions, but they will not be ignored by the angels who record our actions.
The issue of textbooks is also very important. The content of our textbooks should be improved constantly on the basis of the existing needs. There should be vigilant and careful organizations in the educational system, and they should follow up the advances that have been specified in the document for introducing fundamental change into the educational system. They should identify flaws and shortcomings. They should identify unsuccessful experiences, which requires insight. They should also assess the needs, as far as textbooks are concerned. For many years, we have included certain things in our textbooks. Some things are omitted and some other things are added in. We should see what divine, Islamic and civil teachings we need. We should identify the needs for teachings relating to civilization-building and human-building, and teachings that bring about glory for nations and make them pioneers. If these things are not included in our textbooks, we should add them in. In contrast, the things that are misleading and create illusions should be omitted. Certain things should be included on the basis of the needs of genders and generations. For example, it might be necessary to include certain things about housekeeping, raising children and other such things that are needed by girls. Similarly, in the textbooks that have been prepared for boys, certain other things might be included, things about how to confront issues relating to work, life and other such things. These things require constant vigilance and observation. It is necessary to do these things. In any case, this work is very important.
I named this year "The Year of Political and Economic Valor". Both the political area and economic area are among the areas in which the people can play a role. As long as the people do not play a role in these areas, there will be no valor. Of course, some people might be busy, others might be lazy and yet others might not have the necessary enthusiasm, but in general when the people throughout the country keep those bright prospects in mind and have the necessary motivation to move forward, then they will be able to give rise to valor. And by Allah's favor and grace, the people will give rise to valor in these areas. The Ministry of Education can play a role in this regard. A student who is not old enough to vote can encourage his family to step into this arena and carry out their responsibility. The upcoming election is an outstanding instance of political valor and the large number of teachers throughout the country can play a role as far as elections are concerned. They can also play a role in the area of economic valor, which will produce results in the long term.
Our country and our great nation are in need of valor in different areas, considering the goals and values they have. Dear brothers and sisters, we should make accelerated progress. In spite of all the capacities that it enjoys, our nation fell behind during the time of suppression. And later on, this suppression was coupled with foreign interference as well as political, economic and cultural hegemony by foreigners. We fell behind on the path of science. We fell behind in the area of development. We fell behind in economic areas. We were suffering from different cultural and intellectual problems.
The Revolution provided the Iranian nation with an opportunity to make up for this backwardness. You can see the level of skill that the Iranian nation has exhibited over the three decades since the Revolution. You can see how much progress it has made and how much of its potential it managed to reveal to people throughout the world. The advances that the Iranian nation has made over these three decades are not proportional to the level of progress that can be made in thirty years' time. One example is the scientific advances we have made and global communities had no choice but to acknowledge them. The rate of our scientific progress is thirteen times more than the global average. This is no joke. However, we are still scientifically backward despite our rate of progress. Notice how backward we used to be: in spite of the fact that we are making progress ten times faster than the global average, we are still backward. Therefore, it is necessary to preserve this rate of progress. This is an area in which the enemies acknowledge our progress. There are certain other areas in which the enemies should not and do not acknowledge our achievements. This is true of political areas, social areas and areas relating to development of the country. The same is true of areas relating to awareness and insight of the people. Our enemies believe that they should not mention these things in their propaganda, lest they encourage our people to continue their work. It is necessary to keep these things in mind as far as our rate of progress in achieving national dignity and international pride is concerned. These advances are the blessings of the Islamic Revolution. However, we have not made enough advances yet and it is necessary to make more advances.
If the Iranian nation preserves this rate of progress in scientific, political, social, cultural and intellectual areas, there is no doubt that it will not be a long time before our nation achieves the position it deserves. To a large extent, this issue is related to the educational system as well as to managers who are in charge of executive areas. These are the things that make our national issues look sensitive to any insightful and perceptive person. These are the things that require valor. In the absence of valor, it is not possible to make these quantum leaps. When there is valor and when there is enthusiasm and dynamism, it is possible to think of making quantum leaps. We experienced this during the Sacred Defense Era. Wherever the people were provided with an opportunity to play a role, we experienced the same thing. By Allah's favor, the Iranian nation will be witness to this truth once again in the area of political and economic valor. A major part of this responsibility lies on the shoulders of you dear teachers.
I hope Allah the Exalted bestows success on you. I hope He makes the immaculate souls of our martyrs and the pure heart of our honorable Imam (r.a.) satisfied with all of us. I hope He guides us onto the right path and assists us in the important responsibilities that we have towards different issues of the country.
Greetings be upon you and Allah's mercy and blessings