In the fiscal 2019-20 and 2020-21 university entrance exams, 84% of those admitted with a rank below 3,000 and 86% of those admitted to majors, such as medicine, dentistry and pharmacy, were from the top three high-income deciles, while the share of remaining seven deciles in these majors was not more than 14%.
This indicates how the country has failed in nurturing the talents of children belonging to lower deciles. This was stated by Nasser Zakeri, an economist, in a write-up for the Persian daily Shargh. A translation of the text follows:
In the 1960s and 1970s, development theorists talked of a vicious cycle that propagates poverty in underdeveloped societies. Poor families cannot provide adequate educational facilities for their children; as a result, their children usually fail to achieve high scientific and professional status to escape the clutches of poverty.
Underdeveloped societies need to invest in industrial and production sectors to achieve development, but they don’t have adequate resources to finance large industrial projects and so they remain poor and underdeveloped.
The relationship between education and poverty was of great interest to development analysts in those years, as a society needs skilled human capital to accelerate its development. Without investment in local manpower, development would not materialize. In fact, many families could not afford to pay for their children’s education then.
Articles 3, 30 and 43 of the Iranian Constitution imply that the government is obliged to provide education facilities for all members of the public up to the end of high school to improve the quality of life and income of citizens by expanding higher education
In 1979-80, writers of Iran’s Constitution attached great importance to education and the government’s responsibility in this regard. Articles 3, 30 and 43 of the Iranian Constitution imply that the government is obliged to provide education facilities for all members of the public up to the end of high school to improve the quality of life and income of citizens by expanding higher education.
The Iranian revolutionaries of 1979-80 rightly believed that poverty stymied the education of many children and did not allow their talents to flourish and consequently the poor never got the opportunity to rid themselves of poverty. However, the imposition of war and sanctions in the following years resulted in governments forgetting about their constitutional responsibilities.
At first, “non-profit” schools, a misnomer for private schools, were established. The justification was that some of the citizens were willing to pay for their children’s education to enjoy better services. With the gradual weakening of free public education, the industry of publishing textbooks and entrance exam coaching materials and classes flourished and created a handsome turnover for a group.
The negligence of governments in achieving economic growth and eliminating poverty led to a decline in people’s purchasing power. As a result, dropout and child labor rates increased.
According to the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution, in the 2019-20 and 2020-21 university entrance exams, 84% of those admitted with a rank below 3,000 and 86% of those admitted to majors, such as medicine, dentistry and pharmacy, were from the top three high-income deciles, while the share of remaining seven deciles in these majors was not more than 14%.
This indicates how the country has failed in nurturing the talents of children; only those who have enough money are capable of sending their children to university to study in top majors.
The persistence of this cycle would translate into the reproduction of poverty. Long-term disregard for education and its transformation into a lucrative commercial commodity would reinforce master-servant binary. Those in charge need to take the initiative to fix the situation before it is too late.