Tehran School of School Work

The founder-director was a princess, on her father’s side, from the Qajar dynasty (the dynasty toppled down by the Reza Shah of Pahlavi dynasty). She studied social work in the U.S., and was amazed by their social system and values that she found greatly different from Iran. She believed in opportunities for all and the rights of minorities. Upon returning home, she was resolute in implementing some of those the ideas in Iranian society when she decided to open the School of Social Work.

Iran was facing many social problems in the 50’s and 60’s, with poverty on the top of the list; a problem that emanated from ignorance because of high rates of illiteracy, more than 50%, politically-motivated religious ideologies, fanatical beliefs that were basically institutional doctrines rather than spiritually-orientated, and corruption in the system. She was determined to tackle these problems by helping the needy.

When selecting personnel for the school, she promoted minority rights and diversity. Being a Baha’i, and having graduated in the Philippines, I was hired on the first interview. I think she believed that with my background, I could contribute something constructive to school. Because of that, I tried not to fail her expectations during my two year-work. I also wanted to make a contribution to the development of my country.

The school was located in the posh area in northern part of Tehran. The view from my office window, with plantain trees that had turned really magnificent as they aged, lining each side of the street, were comparable to the renowned Champs-Elysees of Paris. I will never forget the not-so-large but beautiful campus, with the fresh-green willow leaves moving gently to the breeze of the warm days of the spring, ornamented with the sweet fragrance of roses in their bed, the shade of pines and cypresses in hot days of the summer, and the serenity that snowflakes bring to the air in the winter.

I joined the workforce at a time when the government was involved in the shake-up of its resources to make Iran more like European countries. The wife of the late Shah, the then-Empress Shahbanoo Farah, was strongly involved in cultural and social affairs as the economy was moving astronomically at a breakneck speed. So along with economic progress, they were trying to see to it that as many people as possible had a share in this progress. As a result, social work and social welfare institutions were quite busy.

My job included being an assistant to a professor who was teaching sociology in relation to the rapid economic development of Iran which was shifting from an agricultural base to a manufacturing industry. The attractive job opportunities, and urban conveniences of city life, especially in Tehran, drew many villagers to relocate to big cities, abandoning their farms. The professor, in his lectures, as I recall, warned about the risks of the economy that heavily depended on its oil revenue, which had soared with the oil shock of 1973, and imported many basic necessities, such as food. To ensure students understood these issues, for example, the professor explained: “Suppose foreign countries decide to stop selling us cheese; should this happen, then what should we put on our bread?” (Cheese and bread together with delicious grapes of all kinds are the three basic staple foods in Iran that everyone could afford). In Japan, this would be like eating onigiri, rice-balls, with nothing in it, or in Italy, pizza with no cheese on it. Still a novice, to help prepare me to teach classes on my own, my superior arranged for me to give a lecture on social welfare topics one day. All I remember of the day is how nervous I was.

Another part of my job was to supervise third- and fourth-year students who needed to intern in the field to complete their undergraduate program. These first few months, I accompanied another supervisor before beginning to supervise my own students. These students were involved in a variety of welfare activities, including case work and community work which were decided based on research work the students conducted prior to implementing programs to meet identified community needs. For example, they were engaged in activities such as creating recreation centres for the large youth population from low-income families who had nothing to do during the long, hot summer vacation other than hanging out with friends or playing soccer in back allies. In addition, literacy programs, job-training sessions, and family planning to young mothers were offered.

Both summers on faculty, I took part in a 3-day training camps to prepare students for field work in which they visited rural areas to assist needy groups within these communities where the government could not or did not get involved.

Although not part of my duty, I was engaged in the translation work of foreign articles from social work and other related magazines. Social work was a relatively new field in Iran so there was a severe lack of reference materials or professional literature.

Typically, Iranian students are enthusiastic learners at institutions of higher education. They are demanding of their professors and expect them to be knowledgeable. I had just returned from abroad and was not very familiar with the work environment in Iran, where little consideration is given to someone who is inexperienced and needs to gain skills as they begin working in the field. This made my job difficult, but I am not someone who gives up easily. I tried to look as authoritative as I could to students, but in a friendly manner.

Then, during my second year, which was a promising one by all accounts, I decided to come to Japan for a visit!