Iran to prohibit its universities from teaching ‘Western’ disciplines - India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

An Iranian Education Ministry official has said that his country would not allow its universities to teach certain disciplines deemed to be based on Western schools of thought and therefore incompatible with Islamic teachings. Abolfazl Hassani also said that contents of existing courses would be revised. “Expansion of 12 disciplines in the social sciences like law, women’s studies, human rights, management, sociology, philosophy.... psychology and political sciences will be reviewed,” the Telegraph quoted Hassani, as saying. “These sciences’ contents are based on Western culture. The review will be the intention of making them compatible with Islamic teachings,” he added. The decision is seen as a response to Iran ’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s calls for modification of these studies. “Many disciplines in the humanities are based on principles founded on materialism disbelieving the divine Islamic teachings,” Khamenei had said. “Thus such teachings will lead to the dissemination of doubt in the foundations of religious teachings,” he added.