Editor’s Note: The following is a letter written by a Baha’i college student upon expulsion from the university at which she had been studying. This letter appears below in translation.
I, Mona Rezai, born in 1989, participated in the National College Entrance Exam during the academic year 2008-2009, and was admitted to Mashhad’s Sajad University, majoring in electronic engineering.
After completing the administrative steps of the registration, I started my studies with my fellow non-Baha’i students in this university. After a year, I was summoned by the Students’ Affairs Department and was questioned about my religion. Subsequently, I was informed that Baha’i students are not allowed to continue their higher education.
On September 12, 2009, when I returned to school to register electronically for my third semester, the webpage for course selection was blocked, and I was not able to continue the registration process. Therefore, I returned to the Students’ Affairs Department. The Director of this department explained that they had received a new protocol from the National College Entrance Exams Organization, and according to this protocol I was barred from continuing my education. However, he added that I had the right to refer the matter to the National College Entrance Exams Organization, or the Department of Faculty and Students Admission in Tehran, for further investigation. I also received the same explanation from the Security Department.
I have submitted a letter to the Educational Council of the University in order to investigate my status.
Although this is not the first time that Baha’i students have been deprived of their right to receive a higher education, it is hoped that this issue will be resolved in the near future.
We have been promised that one day Iran will be an example of a paradise where people can live with no prejudice and all will have important roles in improving and developing this country.
Mona Rezai
[Posted on Thursday, October 1, 2009, at hra-news. Translation by Iran Press Watch.]
October 8, 2009 1:37 am
Dear Mona, it is likely that you will have many opportunities to build toward that future in the ways that are open now, and to prepare yourself and others to enjoy participation in that society. You have already received training in analyzing processes that proceed in steps allowed by the arrival of a certain time phase, and there are processes that ripple from forward as fast as the individual elements can respond. Every part of a vast parallel process that advances to the next stage can take on a task which would otherwise have slowed the critical path, but it must be a general-purpose processor. Perhaps this experience with government bureaucracy will be valuable later, and whatever you find to do meanwhile may also be important. May God bless you.