Zoroastrian Modern Education, Naseri era

Zoroastrians in Qajar Iran did not have an Independent educational system, mainly because they did not have the required capital to form one, and as result they would not be able to rise in economic or administrational system. The idea for found such a system was first put into practice with the financial aid of the Zoroastrians of India, who were set out to help improve the living conditions of their “brothers” in Yazd. An emissary by the name of Manekji was sent to Iran to begin the process. To encourage Iranians to help join him in the endeavors for building an educational institution, he promoted a certain Ideology, and the main question of this paper will be to examine this ideology and the reactions to it, in relation to the historical background of educational Institutions in Iran. The theory of Urpelainen which explains the formation of social Institution helps to find the roots of Manakji’s ideology, and whether he tried to encourage a number of self-enforced social norms or used the idea of an imagined institution in order to enact one. In this particular approach, the process of formation of the Zoroastrian educational system and its challenges will be analyzed in relation to the social situation and historical background. Zoroastrians take incentive from their religious beliefs, and since theirs was the first to educate children by modern standards, studying this process can help answer many questions in contemporary Iran.