Close to 40 percent of Iran’s population lives in rural areas; however, enough educational and cultural facilities have not been allocated to them, said Culture Minister Ali Jannati on Saturday (Feb. 21).
He made the remarks at the ceremony of the first Iran Book Capital Selection and the first Book Loving Villages Festival held at the National Library premises in Tehran, MNA reported.
Ahvaz was selected as the book capital of Iran and the minister called it “a significant step to promote book reading in the country.”
Noting that a country with prosperous villages can claim to have reached sustainable development, Jannati said, removing deprivation from rural areas was the first priority of the nation after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, “but a cultural transformation in the villages is still needed.”
Participants
Over 80 villages participated in the first edition of the Book Loving Villages Festival this year. This indicates that people in rural areas are keen on accessing written culture, he said. “Features of the top 10 villages nominated should be publicized and promoted as suitable models of cultural villages.”
He raised the question whether the previous governments had helped with cultural development in rural areas as well as what action they had taken regarding development of roads, buildings, electricity and water in villages. “Had this been the case, wouldn’t it reduce migration from villages?” he asked, calling on charity organizations, donors and philanthropists to build libraries besides constructing schools and mosques in rural areas.
Other senior officials at the event included culture deputy at the ministry Seyed Abbas Salehi, head of National Library and Archives of Iran Seyed Reza Salehi-Amiri, and caretaker of the Iranian Book House Institute Majid Gholami-Jalise.
