NCRI – August 24, 2013 – A senior Iranian cleric has restated the regime’s draconian stance that mixed-gender universities are ‘harmful’.
Isfahan Friday preacher Seyed Yousif Tabatabai told the Central Council meeting at the Islamic Private University: “There is no doubt that with mixed-gender, Islamic behaviors are not practiced. Our society need only religion, and even Ph.D. certificates are useless.”
Cleric Tabatabai told university deans, professors and officials to prepare university campuses for an ‘Islamic atmosphere’, and said women should also be banned from courses in mine engineering.
He added: “Do we have a mine in the city? Just think about it, we would have to build one mine for women and one for men. We can’t have a separate mine especially for women, or draw a curtain between the female and male engineers!
“Mixing together is harmful in all aspects of education, religion and biology. How much more do we have to say this?”
Many universities in Iran have banned women from dozens of fields of study. Many subjects now open only to men include accounting, engineering and pure chemistry.
The University of Tehran will only accept male applicants for subjects relating to natural resources, forestry and mathematics. Most petroleum-related subjects have also been made exclusive to men.
Women account for nearly 60 percent of university students in Iran, but by last year more than 60 per cent of Iran’s universities had implemented the gender segregation plan for many courses.
In universities including Bahonar, Kerman, Chamran Ahvaz University, Khaje-nasir oddin, Tehran and Abbaspour, most courses are now only available to men in a policy strongly opposed by both university students and professors.
