A Long German-Iranian Educational Tradition

Prehistory of the German Embassy School in Tehran

A cultural agreement between Germany and Iran led to the establishment of the first German school in Tehran in 1907. It was subsidized by the German government and the Persian government and was well equipped with laboratories, a school kitchen, sports facilities, a boarding school for foreign students and a teacher's house. Initially 300 students were taught, the majority of whom were Persians. The school grew to 700 students by World War I. The teaching staff consisted of German and Persian teachers who taught either in German or Persian. Many graduates of the German school continued their studies in Germany and later held positions in higher administration in Iran or were significantly involved in the technical development of their home country.

The German-Persian educational policy led to the establishment of a German-Persian vocational school in 1925. It became a model for the establishment of further vocational schools in Iran.

In 1932, the German colony in Tehran opened a German school for German-speaking children. This school had to close in World War II after the German teachers were interned after the occupation of the Allies in 1941. The development of German-Iranian schools was interrupted by the two world wars and the associated political effects. It was not until 1955 that a German school, the DST, could be reopened in Tehran. This school began its teaching with initially 100 students from the German colony but grew quickly and in 1976 had almost 2,000 students from kindergarten to grade 13, making it the largest and most renowned German school abroad. The DST was entitled to take the school-leaving qualifications recognized in Germany and in 1964 carried out a German Abitur examination in Tehran for the first time.

A special cultural agreement also enabled gifted Iranian children from grade 5 and above to attend the German School in Tehran. They made up two thirds of the students in the upper school and received the best high school diplomas.

However, since the capacities of the DST were limited and the rush of students was high, the Iranian-German school was founded in 1975, in which German-Iranian children could get a qualified bilingual education. In the spring of 1980, the German school had to cease operations because the new regulations after the Islamic Revolution no longer allowed foreign schools to operate.

But just a few months later after the summer vacation in September 1980, with the help of the German Embassy, ​​the German Embassy School Tehran (DBST) was opened and classes for the remaining German-speaking children and other foreign children who wanted a German schooling began.

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