Boys and girls are educated separately in Iran until they reach university. Even teachers must be of the same gender as the classes they teach
The education system in Iran is divided into two main levels: primary education and high-school education. All children spend six years of their lives at primary level from ages six to 12 and attend high school from ages 12 to 18. Primary education is compulsory in Iran. There are many free public schools as well as private schools with high tuition fees. There are also schools called ‘Nemuneh Mardomi’, which are believed to be better than public schools and more affordable than private schools.
Gender segregation has long been a feature of Iranian society. Men and women are often kept separate in public places like schools and also sometimes at public weddings.
In 2009, Hojatoleslam Nabiollah Fazlali, the representative of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at the Khajeh Nasir Toosi University of Technology, made a heated attack on the co-education system.
Fazlali criticized coed universities, saying that allowing male and female students in the same class is like “putting meat in front of a cat.”
