ʿELMĪYA, a high school in Tehran with 500 students studying experimental sciences, mathematics, and economy. It was the second school established in Tehran to offer modern education. It was founded in Du’l-ḥejja 1315/May 1898 by Anjoman-e maʿāref (q.v. Council of Education) as a result of Anjoman’s disagreement with the principal of Rošdīya school over the disbursement of funds. The school included an elementary section (Ebtedāʾīya) for boys between seven and twelve years of age and an advanced section (ʿElmīya) for boys who could read and write Persian fluently. Its first principal was Mīrzā ʿAlī Khan Nāẓem-al-ʿOlūm. At the elementary section students were taught reading, writing, arithmetic, geography, and the tenets of Islam in a five-year program. Students paid only a monthly fee of one toman for supplies. In the advanced section students learned algebra, trigonometry, geometry, advanced geography, history, astronomy, botany, geology, zoology, and either Russian, English or French. They studied for three years and paid four tomans per year for tuition and a monthly fee of fifteen qerāns for supplies. Teachers were hired and paid by the Anjoman-e maʿāref.
The school officially opened at the end of Du’l-ḥejja 1315/21 May 1998 with 120 students. As financial support for the school increased, the Anjoman-e maʿāref offered free admission to the poor. Consequently the enrollment reached beyond the school’s capacity. A new school, called Šaraf, was established in Rabīʿ I 1316/August-September 1898 to accommodate poor students free of charge.
Bibliography:
Dawlatābādī, Ḥayāt-e Yaḥyā I, pp. 185-98, 213-15.
Maḥmūd Eḥtešām-al-Salṭana, Ḵāṭerāt-e Eḥtešām-al-Salṭana, ed. M.-M. Mūsawī, Tehran, 1366 Š./1987, pp. 324-27.
Maḥbūbī, Moʾassasāt I, pp. 384-85.
Mahdīqolī Hedāyat Moḵber-al-Salṭana, Ḵāṭerāt o ḵaṭarāt, Tehran, 1329 Š./1950, pp. 148-50.
(Eqbāl Yaḡmāʾī)
Originally Published: December 15, 1998
Last Updated: December 13, 2011
This article is available in print.
Vol. VIII, Fasc. 4, p. 369
