LANGUAGE ASSESSMENT POLICY IN IRAN

Documents from the old Kingdom of Persia (present-day Iran) indicate that acquiring knowledge was strongly recommended for the purpose of understanding the power of God and abiding by His rules in order to achieve prosperity in both worlds. Evidence for such a priority is probably the first higher education center, called Gundeshapur or Jondishapoor (presently a university with the same name in Ahwaz, a southwestern city in Iran), that was founded in the third century and served as the center for advanced medical, pure, and applied sciences. However, despite this long history, the first modern school in Iran is not more than 150 years old, and the first university, Tehran University, is only 75 years old. Modernization was speeded up by the former regime at all levels, and a systematic educational program with elaborate policy statements was developed from elementary through high school and some higher education centers.