Educating Nomads
An interview with Mohammad Bahmanbeigi
Kayhan Farhangi Monthly Magazine
November 2005, issue 230
A highlight of what Bahmanbeigi had done and how he had lived, including teaching literacy to a number of 500 thousand people under difficult circumstances is initially presented. The first question concerns Bahmanbeigi's basic biographical details and after talking about his educational background, other parts of his life are talked about. He is asked about the first things his first teacher taught him; he mentions Farsi, geometry, and arithmetic. The interview proceeds to an adventurous phase of his life, his father's exile followed by his mother and himself. Despite the hard conditions of exile and the hostile conduct of officers, he found the opportunity of attending school and getting educated. Vali Abad Elementary School in Tehran was the school he had taken the placement test and was registered in the fifth grade of elementary school.
The interviewer, then, asks about his political activities after getting his bachelor's degree in Law. He explains that how the Qashqai population was pro-Germany and anti-Britain. After the decease of Reza Shah Pahlavi, those who had been exiled, including his father, were released. However, Bahmanbeigi did not leave Tehran and got employed by Melli Bank. Later, he was offered the position of assistant prosecutor of Saveh which he rejected since he deemed the position to be "meaningless" for him. Therefore, he returned to his tribe and stayed there for a period before travelling to the US which did not take long due to his homesickness.
Bahmanbeigi is asked about the nomadic educational program and he explains that the program was begun by teaching his illiterate relatives and acquaintances followed by recruiting teachers with the financial assistance of wealthy ones of the tribe to educate a limited number of children. All these achievements were made while Bahmanbeigi's request to receive governmental aids had been rejected. Eventually, with the help and persistence of Fars Office of Culture and its director, Dr. Karim Fatemi, the government decided to accept Bahmanbeigi as an employee.
He invited a number of officials of Plan and Budget Organization that they would observe his accomplishments and success. A plan which worked as he expected and a higher budget was contributed to Bahmanbeigi's program and helped him expand his activities and establish the nomadic high school as well as the college. The interview asks whether the raise in quantity harmed the quality of education and he responds that the quality was still considerably high in a way that it did not lack anything comparing to high schools in the capital.
Afterwards, he mentions Farzad brothers and how Hooman Farzad, who was affliated with the Germans, came to observe the tribe. While talking about an observational foreign team, he points out a huge weakness of Shah's administration which could be found in Sepah Danesh[1] and Urban& Rural Cooperatives; in his opinion, both these plans caused several losses and failures since those in charge were not competent and released false reports to their superiors.
The next question concerns Jalal Al-e-Ahmad and his acquaintance with Bahmanbeigi; He mentions his conversation with Al-e-Ahmad by which their separate views and scopes can be clearly understood. Jalal had requested Bahmanbeigi to take him to the tribe which was refused reasoning that Jalal, who was openly opposed the governing administration, would write in favor of the educational program and, therefore, the government might cut the program's funding. At the end of the interview, Bahmanbeigi's proposal in a Society for the Appreciation of Cultural works and Dignitaries' meeting concerning the transformation of the philosophy of education is discussed and he states his arguments.
[1] An educational institute founded by Mohammad Reza Shah and his PM, Asadollah Alam