The Iranian government has issued new guidelines for schoolgirls in Iran. The new guideline appears to be a reaction to the recent videos of children dancing in school that went viral across social media. In several clips, kids are dancing and singing along to the pop song “Gentleman” by Sasy Mankan.
Sasy Mankan is a US-based Iranian singer. Like many other singers’ works, his songs are banned in Iran. These videos have angered conservatives.
Deputy speaker of the Iranian Parliament Ali Motahari called for the headteachers of the schools to be sacked and for the minister of education to be held accountable.
Education minister Mohammad Bathaei has appointed three experts and called on the cyber police to track the source of the videos. He asked police to help the ministry to curb videos of schoolgirls dancing to the pop song.
Bathaei said that these videos are a part of an ongoing war to change the identity of the new generation. “The main objective of enemies is changing our children’s identity”, Iranian minister said, “the identity which is rooted in Iranian and Islamic lessons.”
Ali Ramezani, another high-ranking official in the ministry, has announced a new guideline issued to deal with children singing in schools.
Based on the new guideline, girls should not sing in solo and the songs should be about culture, history and traditions, or famous Iranian figures.
The Iranian penal code does not prohibit dancing in public, but it can be considered as an “offense against the public moral”, as the law is vague on this issue.
Fundamentalists and conservatives usually condom dancing in public and call it “immoral” and inappropriate.
