Since 1925, the Arab Ahwazi people have been living the tragedy of Iranian occupation, which deprives them of everything, even the right to learn in their Arabic language. Speaking, learning, and communicating in the language of any nation is a national and human right, and no occupier has the right to prevent any people from speaking, communicating, and learning in their language.
However, the Iranian occupation has prevented the Ahwazis from learning in their language to erase their Arab identity and existence.
Before the Iranian occupation, the Arab Ahwazi people learned in their schools in Arabic, but after the occupation, teaching in the occupier’s language was imposed in schools.
Although articles in the Iranian Constitution (15, 18, 21) stipulated (teaching and publishing newspapers in the mother tongue and allowing the wearing of the official and traditional dress of the nationalities present in Iran’s geography), they are just ink on paper.
With the start of the new academic year, the Ahwazi sons launched a national campaign titled “Education in the mother tongue is my right.” This campaign calls for claiming their right to speak, learn, and communicate among themselves and with their Arab brothers in Arabic firstly, and secondly, it is a call to oppose the Iranian culture imposed on the Ahwazi people since 1925, thirdly, a call to stop the process of changing the identity of Ahwaz, and fourthly, protecting the emerging generations from the cultural change affecting their natural development and psychological stability.
This campaign was not the first; it was preceded by campaigns on February 21st on the occasion of International Mother Language Day and on March 18th on the occasion of International Arabic Language Day.
By preventing the teaching of the Arabic language to the Ahwazis and enforcing the Iranian language and culture, the Iranian occupation forces are practicing a policy of racial discrimination against the peoples and working to distort the Arab child’s consciousness by considering the Iranian language and culture as their civilized mother tongue and Arabic as a language of backwardness and ignorance.
Demanding education in the mother tongue is a national, ethnic, human, and religious right, as Islam is an Arab religion, and its language is Arabic. Those who do not master Arabic do not understand anything about their religion. All leaders of the Iranian regime are aware of this fact and the importance of the Arabic language, but this regime, which hates Arabs, does not want Arabs to be educated and active members of society, instead using a policy of ignorance and taming by depriving them of learning in their language.
Elementary school students in northern Ahwaz have to travel long distances through rough and mountainous roads to reach school daily.
The head of the Education Department for the tribes of northern Ahwaz said that one of the main problems students face is the lack of school buses to transport students to schools far from their villages or areas.
Hamid Ghanbari explained that Ahwazi students have to cover a distance of approximately 6 to 8 kilometers daily to reach school, which poses a significant barrier to their education.
Ghanbari continued, saying that many students are forced to go to distant schools due to the lack of schools in their villages and areas. He added, “The main reason for the lack of schools is the lack of funding,” noting that this problem particularly affects boarding schools, where students must return to their schools on Wednesday nights.
Ghanbari pointed out that the illiteracy rate is continuously increasing in Ahwaz, warning of a future disaster for the coming Ahwazi generations and calling for a necessary solution.
It is worth mentioning that the lack of school buses is not the only problem facing the education sector. Jawad Daghlaoui, the governor of the city of Hamidiyah, acknowledged the challenges facing the education sector in occupied Ahwaz, stating, “Most Ahwazi students are unable to obtain the simplest educational requirements, and half of them are deprived of higher education due to the lack of middle or high schools in Ahwazi villages.”
