Statements in Meeting with Teachers

In the Name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Thanks be to God, the Lord of the worlds, and peace and blessings be upon our master Muhammad and his pure family, especially the Remaining One of God on earth.

Welcome, dear brothers and sisters, esteemed teachers of the country, honored to guide future generations. Whatever we say in praise of teachers is not enough. God willing, may God grant us all — both you and us — the success to perform the work that pleases the Almighty.

I thank the honorable Minister; there were good points in his remarks regarding the decisions made and the documents prepared. However, I would like to convey one point to him and all your staff: we have no shortage of good decisions, good laws, and good documents; whatever you desire, we have good decisions and documents in the country. What is important is that these decisions are implemented; pursue this. Establishing headquarters is easy; whether military headquarters or those for other subjects, including economic, cultural, etc.; however, the continuation of the work of these headquarters and their outcomes is very important. Go after serious and devoted action so that, God willing, what you want — which I see you are attentive to the important points of education — is realized, and follow through so that, God willing, it is implemented.

Well, the goal and purpose of our annual meeting with dear teachers — which has faced disruptions in the past couple of years due to the pandemic [COVID-19], and this year, thanks be to God, we have the opportunity to see you face to face — is to highlight the role of teachers in the public culture of the country; that is our goal. We want the teacher to be recognized, and the value of teaching to be a well-established and lasting value in the public opinion of the people, which is not the case now. We must behave in a way that the teacher takes pride in their profession, their family takes pride in their profession, and society views them as a dignified being; we must reach this point. It requires some speaking and some action; now we will briefly present what needs to be said today.

The word 'teacher' has two applications, not one: the first application is to consider the teacher as an educator, a trainer, a teacher; this is a very great value, a high value. The Almighty God is among the teachers: وَاتَّقُوا اللهَ وَ یُعَلِّمُکُمُ الله (And fear God, and God will teach you); عَلَّمَ الاِنسانَ ما لَم یَعلَم (He taught man that which he knew not); these are attributed to God Himself; this is a very high value. Or regarding the prophets, for example, the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) says: وَیُعَلِّمُکُمُ الکِتابَ وَ الحِکمَة (And He teaches you the Book and Wisdom); the teacher in this sense; or all the wise, scholars, jurists, great scientists, and prominent figures, including the dear martyr Motahhari, are teachers in this sense, and this is a very great value; that is, someone who teaches something to an audience. This is one application.

Another application of the teacher means the teacher of education and training, which is another application. We are currently discussing this second application; the discussion is not about all teachers; it is specifically about this teacher. The value of this second application is twice that of the first application; why? Because of the audience of this education; the audience of this education is a group of human beings whose potential for the impact of this education on them is much greater than the impact on all other classes; the importance of the teacher's work is this; that is, the teacher of education and training has the value of the first application, plus the fact that their work is in a field, in a domain that has no substitute; there is no substitute.

Your audience is at the best age for receptivity and education; your audience is those who will not forget what you teach them for the rest of their lives; this is very important. We constantly learn information, depending on the age and memory differences of individuals, we learn from one side and forget from the other, but what we learned in childhood, we do not forget; usually, we do not forget for the rest of our lives. The famous Arabic proverb is that 'knowledge in childhood is like engraving in stone' or 'like carving in stone'; it is like you engrave something on a stone and work on it, and it cannot be erased and always remains; your audience is like this.

Well, we have repeatedly talked about 'new Islamic civilization' or we can express it as 'flourishing Islamic civilization'; an Islamic civilization that realizes its potentials in accordance with the times and shows itself; we have said this repeatedly. The main infrastructure of any civilization is human resources; that is, those who can make a civilization possible and actualize it are human forces; who are these human forces in our country? Who can perform such a great task in the future? A generation that possesses certain advantages; this generation you want to build today. A self-made generation, with a strong and deep Iranian-Islamic identity, not enamored with this or that or the remnants of the obsolete civilizations of the East and West; a knowledgeable, scholarly, efficient, skilled generation, familiar with Islamic lifestyle and Iranian traditions; such a generation is needed to build that civilization. From the very beginning of the revolution, we have been seeking to create this generation; of course, it cannot be said that we have been completely unsuccessful; no, thanks be to God, we have had successes; in various fields, the trained elements of this kind have emerged and shown themselves, thanks to these very teachers; in various sectors — you know now — in the economy, in military matters, in politics, etc.; however, this is not enough. If we want that civilization to come into being with that comprehensiveness, we must develop this generation, this education must expand, and become widespread. Therefore, if we want to do this, for the Islamic Republic, there is no better opportunity than these twelve years. These twelve years are the greatest opportunity for the Islamic Republic to properly transfer values and the ideals of the revolution to this generation and to instill Islamic and Iranian identity in them; these twelve years are the best opportunity.

Well, this is the mission of education and training; the mission of teachers. You see, this is a very great task, a very monumental task; this is not just ordinary and usual education, this is fundamental education. Fortunately, the groundwork for this work is also prepared for education and training; that is, the Islamic Republic government has a vast nationwide organization called the Ministry of Education and Training that extends to the most remote areas of the country and the depths of cities and villages; well, this is a very important opportunity. At all these wide levels, there are ears and hearts ready to listen, waiting for you to speak to them. I often reminded some scholars and clerics who were engaged in student or university affairs that 'whenever we went to the pulpit, we waited for a few listeners to gather there so that we could speak to them; now this large crowd of students is sitting at your pulpit'; this address is also true for teachers. You have hours of listening ears and hearts waiting for you to say something that will resonate in their hearts, whether intentionally or unintentionally; what is important is that your words resonate in their hearts if expressed correctly; we must value this; this is a very important matter, a significant opportunity.

And this definition of education and training shows what a great institution education and training is. And he rightly said that by looking at education and training, one can recognize the future of the country; yes, that is correct. If we look at education and training today, we can guess and determine how the future of the country will be based on today's education and training. Well, this is now a commendation of education and training; a real commendation, not a ceremonial one.

However, there are problems in our education and training that I will now mention a few points regarding this. Overcoming these problems and reaching an ideal state requires both wisdom and knowledge, as well as effort, striving, and patience; managers should not get tired, should not panic, and should pursue the work with patience.

Of course, we also need tools. For these tasks, first of all, educational content is necessary; that is, pay attention to the importance of educational content. Talking and recommending does not suffice. Education and training must prepare educational content for the purposes we mentioned that teachers pursue; both educational content and the quantity of teachers; we have a problem regarding the quantity of teachers. What has been reported to me is that currently about seventy thousand of our teachers are on the verge of retirement, while we can attract about half of this population and we want to attract them; this is a big problem. We must work on this issue, and I will make a reference regarding the Teacher Training University.

The quality of the teacher is also important; the quality of the teacher! Both the quality of knowledge and lessons and so on; it should not be that, for example, those with low entrance exam scores go into this field; arrange it so that those with high academic ranks, and then, in terms of ethics, moral training, religiousness, and faith, enter this field; these are the necessary qualities in a teacher, these are needed. If we want to achieve those goals, one of the issues is the matter of the teacher. Of course, extracurricular programs and activities are necessary, and they may be carried out. Of course, we have always had very good and committed teachers even before the revolution; those very teachers who interacted with students in a way that a massive student movement arose in the issues of the revolution; indeed, one of the remarkable aspects of the revolution was the presence of the student class, which faced massacres, one of which was on the thirteenth of Aban and the massacre near Tehran University; this indicates that teachers were active. Or at the beginning of the revolution, those teachers whose young protégés filled the battlefields and many martyrs were produced, many of the teachers themselves were martyred. Today, it is the same; today, thanks be to God, we do not lack committed, believing, caring, and interested teachers; of course, we also have other types of teachers.

Well, it is good to divide the issues of education and training; some issues relate to the entirety of education and training, while some relate specifically to teachers. These should not be mixed; that is, it should be clear where the viewpoints and perspectives on each issue lie and who the audience and responsible parties are.

Regarding education and training, there is a general point that I emphasize, which has been repeated in my talks and writings. We must do something so that our student has a national identity; the goal of educating the student, of bringing this student to school, to elementary or high school, should not merely be to learn lessons. Yes, they should learn lessons, they should acquire knowledge, but more importantly than knowledge acquisition, or at least at the level of knowledge acquisition, is that they should feel a sense of identity, a human being with identity should be created here who has a national identity and a sense of national self-confidence; and our children should become familiar with the glories of the country from the depths of their being; this is something that does not exist today. There are many glories; now he mentioned the late Mr. Kazemi-Ashtiani; you should survey the children in schools to see what percentage know Kazemi-Ashtiani with all his services, with the existential value that this man and this young man had — he was young — and for example, consider how many percent know Ronaldo! Sometimes, the small children in our family mention names that I cannot even remember! They know these names well, [they know] what they are about. Why do we not recognize our national glories? This is very important.

One part of what we call 'national identity' is that they should recognize national glories, scientific history, political history, and international history; they should recognize the efforts and struggles that have been made. How many of today's children, the third and fourth generations, correctly understand the issues of the revolution? Apart from the name of Imam Khomeini (may his soul be sanctified), how much do they know beyond some of these laudatory expressions? How much do they know about the scholars of the country? These are national glories. How familiar are they with the ideals of the revolution? Well, this revolution that was able to create this great storm, to move this ocean, is no joke; [that] a revolutionary movement can mobilize a country in all its components — I mean, during the revolution, the marches that took place were not only related to Tehran or a large city, but even in a village, the same demonstrations took place — this means the turbulence of an ocean.

What was it that could move them like this? What did the Imam do? What did the Imam say? The Imam's words are available today in twenty-some volumes of his statements and writings; how much have they been read? How much attention has been paid to them? They should know the ideals of the revolution. It is not just about knowing; they should become intertwined with these ideals; this youth and adolescent, in elementary and high school, should become intertwined with these ideals, and their heart and soul should become familiar with them. Well, yes, we need the formulas of chemistry and mathematics and foreign languages and so on; our statement does not mean that we should set aside lessons; no, lessons are necessary; we believe that the flag of knowledge should be raised higher every day in the country, but alongside it, the flag of national identity, glorious identity, revolutionary identity, and Islamic identity should also be raised.

[They should] understand the value of being resilient; [that is] that the components of a nation are resilient components. What does resilient mean? It means they do not retreat in the face of tribute-taking, they do not tremble in the face of attacks against themselves, they do not yield to bullying; resilient means this. The elixir to solve the problems of the country is this: the feeling of resistance, the spirit of resistance. Well, the world is a world of bullying; everyone bullies, whoever can bully bullies; it does not matter if they are big or small, it does not matter if they are East or West; a nation must be able to resist against bullying; this must be learned from childhood, this must be ingrained in us from adolescence. Or the value of having self-confidence; these are things that are necessary and must be done. With these, then the generation that builds civilization will emerge; a generation that can dignify the nation, dignify the country, will come into being. All of this takes place in school. See the value of the teacher! Education and training are responsible for such a task; for these very characteristics, the Ministry of Education and Training cannot be compared with any other ministry.

Another point regarding the issues of education and training that relates to the planning of this ministry is the distinction between beneficial knowledge and non-beneficial knowledge; beneficial knowledge. Now you all have expertise, that is, you are more knowledgeable in this matter than I am; currently, in our high schools and perhaps in our elementary schools, knowledge is being taught that has no benefit for the present and future of these students; there are some things, [some] mentalities that they forget and do not help them in any life issue, do not help them in the advancement of knowledge; identify these, eliminate them. Beneficial knowledge is that knowledge which can blossom the talents of the young and adolescent; it can identify their talents, grow them in accordance with their talents, and blossom those talents; it provides them with mental and practical capital for their future; this is beneficial knowledge; then, of course, it will have an impact on the advancement and elevation of the country, but pouring a bunch of ineffective memorization into the minds of students does not help. A portion of time should be devoted to education and skills, which was also mentioned by the Minister, and it is good to pursue this matter. The Islamic lifestyle, cooperation, social collaboration, these should be learned by children in school. Order and lawfulness; one of our problems is the issue of disorderliness that usually exists in social life and family life; we must learn order and discipline and obedience to the law from adolescence and youth. The spirit of study, the feeling of research and study in the young, in the adolescent can be ingrained; you can transfer this as a skill to them. Jihadi activities; fighting against social harms; everyone can fight against social harms when this motivation exists within them. This is another point.

The next point relates to the transformation document, which he referred to. The issue of the transformation document is not really a pleasing matter; this document was prepared more than ten years ago, and the honorable ministers who came — apparently six ministers, along with several caretakers have been present in education and training over these ten years, and this managerial turnover itself is an issue and a flaw — each of them has done some work, and they have usually reported to us that we have done these works, but what is a reality is that this transformation document has not been implemented; now, it may be that a part of it has been realized in some way, but this document is a whole, a collection. If the officials and managers of education and training believe that there is a flaw in this document, very well, update it; update the document, complete it, resolve its issues; they should strive to ensure that this work is done and that the transformation document is seen. For measuring progress, a specific index must be established; saying that this percentage of this document has been implemented and so on does not suffice; a quantitative index must be created, and it must be specified how much progress has been made in this document. Well, these are the general issues of education and training.

I will mention two or three points regarding teachers. Well, this heavy burden that we mentioned is on the shoulders of the teacher; that is, in terms of execution, it is the teachers who execute; some teachers may influence decisions, some may not, but execution is entirely the responsibility of the teachers; they are the ones who must carry out these great tasks in front of this audience, which is a multi-million youth and adolescent generation; this is a unique role. The value of the teacher should be felt by everyone; first and foremost, the teachers themselves should feel their role and understand what a great task is upon them; getting tired, becoming weary, belittling the work due to some of the problems that exist in life — economic problems and so on — looking at this work with a sense of contempt is a mistake; the work of teaching is a very important task; it is a very great task. The teacher themselves should be the first to understand the issues of this role-playing of the teacher. Just as we mentioned during the revolution, during the imposed war, in various political events that have occurred in the country, teachers have been able to play a role and guide this young and adolescent collection of the country in the right direction.

Teachers themselves, in addition to feeling this important role, should feel a sense of trustworthiness; this is truly a duty. The teacher should feel that they are a trustee; that trust that has been entrusted to them must come out from under their hands safe and with added value, is the most precious of trusts; the most precious of trusts; that is, this adolescent under your care — well, they are the treasures of the country, the adolescents and youth of the country — both on a national scale and on a family scale — as their parents have sent their children, their sons, their daughters under the care of the teacher — this trust is very valuable, this trust is in your hands. It is said: 'I am a simple tablet, ready for every role.' This simple and unwritten tablet is ready for all roles; you are the ones who create this role. It must come out with the added value that it gains under your care. This trustworthiness must be performed in the best way; both ethically, scientifically, behaviorally, and in terms of awareness and knowledge; you must revive the spirit of knowledge in this trust. And of course, if our teacher is a believer and religious, this work will be done in the best way, which we hope, God willing, this will be the case. This is one matter.

Another point is the issue of the Teacher Training University — which was mentioned — and Shahid Rajaei University and all teacher training centers; these are very important; they are very important. That is, the establishment of these universities was a necessary task, and attention to them is also very important. A few years ago, I attended this university and presented the necessary and important points to the large and vast gathering of youth who were there. There is a heavy responsibility regarding this university; in every respect, these universities, these teacher training centers must be strengthened; in terms of hardware facilities, management, professors, educational materials, and educational activities. The expectations we have from teachers, in what kind of university will they be fulfilled? This is very important. The teacher we expect must come out from these places.

Another matter is that, as I have been informed, the field of study of many teachers does not match the subject they teach; this seems to me to be a very important point. They studied in another field, and now, for example, they are teaching in a different field. Of course, I know this is due to the shortage of teachers, as the managers do not have the freedom to do what is necessary, but in any case, this issue must be thought about. They have worked hard and studied in a field; well, at the stage they are teaching, they should use more of that field and be related to that field.

During the COVID era, teachers really worked hard. The COVID era was a difficult time for teachers; an unfamiliar and unknown task, then double work. At one point, teachers were doing double work; that is, they had students in class, and they also had to work with internet programs and virtual spaces and so on; they were actually doing double work; it was a lot of effort for them. We sincerely thank the teachers in this regard.

My recommendation regarding issues related to livelihood is the same as the usual recommendation; of course, there are problems in government facilities, there are really problems, we acknowledge these, we must pay attention to these problems, but the issues of insurance, retirement, and treatment costs must be paid on time; these are important matters, and attention must be paid to them.

And my last word is: we have many expectations from education and training, and we ask education and training to plan for these; [but] you teachers should not wait; do not wait. You can do many things with your personal initiatives. There are teachers who have not been given a specific program for education, but with their own initiative, with their own proactive actions, with their own goodwill, with their own compassion, they have been able to educate and advance a group of students. God willing, may you also be successful in these areas.

We ask the Almighty God to unite the souls of the dear martyrs of the country, especially the martyrs of students and teachers, with their saints, and may the pure soul of our dear Imam — who we truly owe everything to his leadership and guidance, and he was the one who opened this path and guided us to it — God willing, may the Almighty unite him with his saints and grant all of you and us the success to fulfill our duties.

Peace be upon you and God's mercy and blessings.