Iran’s deputy minister of education says based on the views of the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei changes will be made in the content of foreign language textbooks.
In an interview with local media on Sunday, Ahmad Mahmoudzadeh called the decision "organizing the language schools", adding that Ali Khamenei has criticized the "content of language books" and demanded a revision.
Regarding Khamenei's criticism, he said "The conversation, pictures or anything else that is presented must be completely in conformity with the Iranian Islamic culture and customs."
Changing the content of textbooks and aligning them with regime ideology, upon Khamenei orders, has been implemented in the past few years, but this is the first time such changes will be applied to textbooks in private language schools.
Mahmoudzadeh also stated that based on Khamenei's preference, the "monopoly of the English language" in the curriculum of schools is supposed to be broken.
In recent years, Khamenei has taken a position against teaching English in Iranian schools.
In 2016, Ali Khamenei harshly criticized the promotion of learning English in Iranian educational institutions. "Now, we have reached a point where teaching the English language is extended to kindergartens and daycares, as well," he retorted.
Immediately after Khamenei's remarks, the Ministry of Education banned English teaching in primary schools.