Video|Iranian authorities close a school due to traditional mixed Kurdish dance.
June 20, 2019, 11:59 am

Iranian authorities close a school due to traditional mixed Kurdish dance

Iranian authorities close a school due to traditional mixed Kurdish dance.Authorities in Iran closed a secondary school in the Kurdish city, Mahabad, in western Azerbaijan province, northwest Iran, for organising a traditional mixed Kurdish dance.

The authorities say that the decision to close the school was a result of publishing this video on social media, coinciding with the death anniversary of Ali bin Abi Talib, the first Imam of Shia and the fourth Muslim caliph.

Mahabad is a city of 200 thousand population with a Kurdish Sunni majority.

The short video shows Kurdish teachers and students while dancing together with a piece of traditional Kurdish music.

"During the parliament session last week, it was decided to close the school and withdraw its license permanently," said Hadi Bahari, the Deputy of Urmia city in Parliament, and a member of the board of directors who is supervising schools in the province.

Activists said that the simple dance piece was published on 21st of Ramadan and not on 19th, coinciding with the killing of Ali bin Abi Taleb.

The Imam of Friday prayer in Mahabad, the Sunni, Abdulsalam Emami, confirmed that the video did not recorded in the holy month of Ramadan, but it seems that it has been deliberately published on 21st of Ramadan. However, judicial and educational authorities in the region announced the closure of the school and investigating with teachers who participated in this video.

Dancing challenge.

This comes as the government of Iran faces the challenge of dancing which started in schools so, the students began to dance and publish videos on social media.

The song "Gentleman" by the young Iranian singer, Hassan Heidari, became a trend on social media platforms in Iran recently.

The videos have become part of a trend called "dance challenge," where children's videos are being published in schools across the country on the recently released song "Gentleman".

Extremist politicians have called on the ministry to take strict action to prosecute students who publish the dancing videos. The security and judicial authorities are currently pursuing many students and some teachers who dance in the videos, but it is unclear what they will be accused of.

Conspiracy Theory

“The enemy is trying in different ways to raise concerns among people, including the broadcasting of these disturbing videos that we see on the internet", Iranian Education Minister, Mohammad Batahai, who resigned last Thursday, declared in a press conference. He added” I am sure there is a kind of political plot behind the broadcasting of these deviant videos in schools”.

Analysts believe that the recent debate about the publishing of dance challenge videos in schools, as well as teachers’ strikes to protest against low wages and salaries throughout the country, were the reasons behind the resignation of the Education Minister.

رقص کردی در یک مدرسه غیر انتفاعی در مهاباد موجب تعطیلی آن شد

هادی بهادری نماینده ارومیه در مجلس شورای اسلامی از لغو مجوز مدرسه‌ای غیرانتفاعی در مهاباد خبر داد که چندی پیش فیلمی از رقص کردی معلمان و دانش‌آموزان آن در فضای مجازی منتشر شده بود. pic.twitter.com/F0CpO2VsLs

— mina (@mina25705324) June 7, 2019

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