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Baha'i
Stand up for Iranian Bahá'ís' right to a higher education
- The Guardian, Saturday 11 June 2011
- Exams are here for students across the country. In Iran, too, students are busy at university – but not if they are Bahá'ís. The youth of Iran's largest religious minority were banned from university after the 1979 revolution. On 21 May, Iranian authorities raided 30 homes and arrested 16 Bahá'ís for being part of an initiative to provide higher education to their community.
In 1987, the Bahá'í Institute for Higher Education was established to give Iranian Bahá'ís a chance to study. It has hundreds of students and many come to the UK for postgraduate degrees. The New York Times calls it an "elaborate act of communal self-preservation" – without it, Bahá'ís would have nowhere to learn.
The authorities have struck the institute before and dozens were arrested. It is official policy to block the development of the Bahá'ís. Young Bahá'ís who cannot study are denied a basic human right. Their desire to contribute to society is being strangled at the start of their adult lives.
Academics, students and politicians should join common cause for Bahá'í students in Iran. The authorities must be taught that human rights are universal. Barring Bahá'ís from university exposes the government's own ignorance.
Professor Stephen Chan School of Oriental and African Studies
Professor Sadie Creese Warwick University
Professor Erol Gelenbe Imperial College London
Professor Jonathan Michie Oxford University
Professor Rachel Murray Bristol University
Professor Karalyn Patterson Cambridge University
Dr Andrew Shacknove Oxford University
Professor Patrick Thornberry Keele University
Professor Barbara Wilson Cambridge University
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jun/11/iran-bahai-right-higher-education