Iran

Governmental Educational Agencies: Important governmental institutions and agencies related to education in Iran include the Ministry of Education; the Higher Council of Education; the Ministry of Higher Education; the Ministry of Health, Treatment, and Medical Education the Literary Movement Organization; the National Council for Scientific and Industrial Research; the Institute for Research and Planning in Higher Education; the Exceptional Education Organization; and the Technical and Vocational Training Organization of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs.

Ministry of Education: Iran's educational system and its administration is highly centralized under the Ministry of Education, which in turn is responsible to the Islamic Parliament, the Cabinet, and the Higher Council of Cultural Revolution. In essence this organization is responsible for all educational policies relating to primary and secondary education and the setting and implementation of objectives relating to them, from forming the makeup of its Higher Council of Education to the development, printing, and distribution of textbooks. Other significant duties include procurement of facilities; the creation and supervision of vocational, academic, and physical education programs; the supervision of teacher training; insurance of the freedom and access to education for all citizens; the financial and educational support of the children and families of both martyrs and war dead; the coordination of defense training within the schools; the support and development of special education; development of the arts; student recruitment; support for the Literary Movement Organization; and cooperation with all other significant educational offices. All provincial and regional offices report to the ministry.

Educational Budget: In 1996 the budget for the Ministry of Education was 6.1 billion rials, or 3.8 percent of the gross national budget. These funds are divided among administrative, research, training, and procurement, with each level of education allotted specific funds. By far the greatest expenditures in the 1995-96 academic year were for primary education (1.6 million rials) and upper secondary education (.93 million rials). The expenditure for higher education and research is budgeted separately to the Ministry of Higher Education and was 1.6 million rials for the same academic year. These figures reveal the emphasis placed on primary education in the IRI.

Educational Research: Fields of educational research taken on by the Ministry of Education are divided into three areas of study—educational, psychological and social, and economic. Educational research relates to problems concerning objectives, curricula, methodologies, manpower training, organizational inadequacies, and policies for management and evaluation. Research on psychological and social issues relating to children, juveniles, and youth concerns personality development, social participation, and problems related to leisure time. Economic research studies the appropriate allocation of funding and its relation to the achievement of educational objectives.