Tahqiqāt-e Tārikh-e Ejtemā’i (Social History Studies)

Zoroastrian Modern Education, Naseri era

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

Nourddin Nemati 1
Rahil Asgari 2

1 Associated professor of History, University of Tehran, Tehran-Iran

2 Master’s Student in History of Islamic Iran, University of Tehran, Tehran-Iran

https://doi.org/10.30465/shc.2020.29932.2044
Abstract
Zoroastrians in Qajar Iran did not have an Independent educational system, mainly because they did not have the required capital to form one, and as result they would not be able to rise in economic or administrational system. The idea for found such a system was first put into practice with the financial aid of the Zoroastrians of India, who were set out to help improve the living conditions of their “brothers” in Yazd. An emissary by the name of Manekji was sent to Iran to begin the process. To encourage Iranians to help join him in the endeavors for building an educational institution, he promoted a certain Ideology, and the main question of this paper will be to examine this ideology and the reactions to it, in relation to the historical background of educational Institutions in Iran.
The theory of Urpelainen which explains the formation of social Institution helps to find the roots of Manakji’s ideology, and whether he tried to encourage a number of self-enforced social norms or used the idea of an imagined institution in order to enact one. In this particular approach, the process of formation of the Zoroastrian educational system and its challenges will be analyzed in relation to the social situation and historical background.
Zoroastrians take incentive from their religious beliefs, and since theirs was the first to educate children by modern standards, studying this process can help answer many questions in contemporary Iran.

Keywords

Modern Education
Zoroastrian of Iran
Zoroastrians of India
Manekji Limji Hatariya
social Institution
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Tahqiqāt-e Tārikh-e Ejtemā’i (Social History Studies)
Volume 10, Issue 2
Autumn and Winter
March 2021
Pages 259-278

  • Receive Date 26 June 2020
  • Revise Date 06 October 2020
  • Accept Date 14 November 2020

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