School Mayors of Iran: Learning Social Participation in an Unfavorable Environment

Abstract

Children, Youth and Environments 15(2), 2005 School Mayors of Iran: Learning Social Participation in an Unfavorable Environment Parviz Piran Allameh Tabatabaee University/ Swiss Academy for Development Teheran, Iran/ Bern, Switzerland Citation: Piran, Parviz. (2005). “School Mayors of Iran: Learning Social Participation in an Unfavorable Environment.” Children, Youth and Environments 15(2): 299-318. Comment on This Article Abstract This paper discusses the School Mayors project in Iran, which has over the last decade aimed to provide a formal context within which young people could learn to participate in collective undertakings with a view to encouraging civic responsibility and a greater understanding of democratic processes. The project, which covers over 1000 schools, takes place in a social context where participation, even for adults, faces many obstacles. The school mayors, deputy mayors and city-school councils, democratically elected by students, have implemented with the support of student working groups, activities ranging from school improvements and support for weaker students to involvement in their communities. Their formal “jurisdiction” covers not only the schools they represent, but also the radius of 500 meters around their school, making these student bodies part of the formal governance structure of the city. Keywords: schools, local governance, community involvement, Iran© 2005 Children, Youth and Environments School Mayors of Iran: Learning Social Participation in an Unfavorable Environment 300 Introduction The School Mayors of Iran is a project that was first implemented experimentally in 1994. For centuries, social participation in Iran had been intentionally neglected and discouraged by those in power, with extreme costs for the society at large. By the end of the Iraq – Iran war (1980-1988), many researchers working in similar areas shared this view with the author, but discussions only took place among intellectuals and had no impact in real life. In light of a real and urgent need for change, the author designed a program entitled Citizen Centered Cities, hoping to influence then-current processes among officials and general public. The program consisted of 12 projects, all of which in one way or another dealt with sustainable development and had participation as a core concept. One of those projects was School Mayors of Iran which targets students in elementary, intermediate and high schools. The objectives of this project, broadly speaking, have been to provide a formal context within which children and young people could learn to participate in collective undertakings which would encourage civic responsibility and a greater understanding of democratic processes. Presently the project covers over 1000 middle schools all over Iran, and has also served as the model for student councils which are now in operation in all Iranian schools. Background Some background on Iran seems necessary, especially for readers living in societies where issues of citizenship with its rights and obligations, and the rule of law, are to a large extent resolved and taken for granted. Iran has had many centuries of authoritarian political rule. This situation encouraged the author, with the help of dozens of intelligent and energetic young students, to analyze over 300 history texts in order to find answers for a number of important questions: Why does an authoritarian political structure persist in Iran despite a good number of social movements, numerous uprisings, a few revolutions and the constant protest of various social groups? How has this political structure limited participation in all domains of social life, leading to a non-participatory mindset and the expectation that government should be responsible for even the most trivial issues? How can this be changed? This analysis contributed to the development of a geo-strategic and geopolitical explanation of Iranian society, which is described here in brief. Security has been the most influential factor in Iranian life. This is an arid country, which led to both a nomadic way of life and a dispersed village population. Nomadic tribal communities experienced periodic droughts which endangered their existence, leaving them no choice but to attack settled communities. Villages, unable to defend themselves, looked to outside forces for protection. Insecurity was the prime reason for the emergence of a centralized government with a standing army. Cities developed as the seats of centralized and despotic regimes (see Ashraf 1974, 43). Thus, the three components of...