Minority Education Policy in Azerbaijan and Iran

This article reports on a research project conducted by the Black and Caspian Sea Collaborative Research Project into the minority education policies in Azerbaijan and Iran. Since their recent political revolutions both countries have stressed a high degree of nationalism and national allegiance. The focus of the research was to discover the extent of the balance achieved between drawing young people into the countries’ national mainstreams while at the same time serving social justice by providing minority groups with a sense of cultural identity. In both countries the teachers interviewed and the schools visited were dedicated to the national curriculums and instruction according to the textbooks. Where minority languages were used in schools it was to ensure that the national curriculum and textbook content were communicated adequately.