‘I Went to Prison for Teaching Kurdish’: Iran’s War on Language Diversity

Iranwire – The Islamic Republic’s Parliament rejected a proposal to teach ethnic languages in schools just days after International Mother Language Day on February 21.

While media reports highlighted the global importance of mother language-based education, several Kurdish civil activists were arrested for advocating this basic right.

Mina, a young mother, was forced to live apart from her husband for five years – just so her daughter could receive an education.

After her husband secured a job in Urmia following his accounting degree, their seven-year-old daughter faced immediate challenges at school.

“My problems began on the very first day of school,” Mina explains. “My daughter only spoke Kurdish at home and didn’t know Persian.

“I knew she was intelligent – she had memorized five Kurdish songs from her grandfather’s music students and could repeat them with perfect melody.

“But not knowing Persian created both learning difficulties and emotional stress. She became irritable, her eating and sleeping patterns changed, and she cried because she couldn’t understand her lessons.”

The psychological and educational consequences forced Mina and her husband to make a difficult decision: Mina and their daughter would return to Mahabad while her husband remained in Urmia for work.

“That decision meant living apart for five years, with my daughter missing her father’s love and presence during crucial years,” Mina says.

“About two months into the school year in Mahabad, Arghavan quickly caught up with her classmates, and her emotional state and academic performance improved dramatically.

“The curriculum and teaching methods were identical to those in Tabriz, but in Mahabad, her teacher spoke to her in Kurdish – her mother language – which significantly impacted my daughter’s well-being.”

The experience deepened Mina’s understanding of the importance of mother language-based education.

She says, “Children learn faster and progress better when taught in their mother language during their early education years.

“Unfortunately, misguided language policies and the deprivation of mother language-based education caused my daughter emotional damage and forced our family to live apart for five years. This isn’t just an injustice to my family but to thousands of families like ours.”

Keyvan, who has volunteered teaching Kurdish language classes in Saqqez since his university years, has witnessed firsthand how students in Kurdish, Arab, and Baluch regions struggle academically due to insufficient Persian proficiency.

These difficulties can permanently affect their educational and career prospects.

Research confirms that children who begin their primary education in their mother language develop a deeper understanding of academic concepts and greater learning confidence.

In contrast, forced education in a second language without proper preparation can lead to school dropouts, poor academic performance, and psychological stress.

“In the absence of formal mother language-based education, some families turn to alternative solutions to prevent their children’s academic decline,” Keyvan explains.

“These include private or home classes that impose significant financial and time costs on families, or non-standard teaching methods and self-learning, which often have negative effects because mother language-based education is one of the most specialized fields in childhood education.”

According to Keyvan, those who teach languages in non-Persian regions face severe security pressures and repression.

In 2017, he was arrested for this very activity and interrogated for days at the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) intelligence office in Sanandaj.

He was ultimately sentenced to three years in prison on charges of “acting against national security” and “conspiracy and collusion.”

“Apart from holding Kurdish language classes in Saqqez and several underprivileged villages, I hadn’t done anything else,” he says.

“But during interrogations, I was repeatedly asked under what license and for what purpose I conducted Kurdish language classes. I truly had no answer because the question made no sense.

“But during interrogations, I was repeatedly asked under what license and for what purpose I conducted Kurdish language classes. I truly had no answer because the question made no sense. I served three years in prisons in Saqqez, Urmia, and Miandoab in exile. 

Like many education experts, Keyvan believes changing this situation and the security-focused approach to languages requires reforming language and educational policies and accepting Iran’s linguistic and cultural diversity.

“Learning and using one’s mother language is not a privilege but a fundamental and undeniable right for all humans,” he explains.

“No person should face restrictions, discrimination, or repression for speaking, writing, or learning in their mother language.

“Depriving people of this right is not only a clear violation of human rights but also a serious obstacle to the cultural, social, and identity development of diverse communities.”

According to official statistics, thousands of students dropout of school annually due to the prohibition of mother language-based education in Iran.