Razi High School
| Razi High School | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Location | |
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Tehran , Tehran | |
| Information | |
| Type | Private - Created from an agreement between the Mission Laique Francaise and the Iranian Government before the revolution of 1979 |
| Established | 1950 |
| Principal | French |
| Faculty | 90 |
| Grades | Preschool, Elementary, and High school |
| Enrollment | 3000 |
| Campus | Urban |
| Mascot | Lions of Razi |
| Website | Unofficial razihighschool.com |
'Le Lycée Razi (in Persian:دبیرستان رازی) translated in English as Razi High school. The name Lycée Razi is the official name of the school, and in French as it is known to the French community, and as a recognition of the French community contribution in this school. Le Lycée Razi is listed in French in this page as such for all the French students who attended this school, and for their ease in finding information about their school as it was. Le Lycée Razi, "Lycée" means high school, in fact, it is important to mention that this private school, had grades starting from preschool going all the way to high school. Le Lycée Razi, was located on Pahlavi Street (now renamed Valiasr Street after the revolution of 79 ) in Tehran, Iran. The school is named after Razi a Persian physician, philosopher, and scholar. The first Razi school was built during the 1950s in a different area of the city of Teheran, and at the beginning of the 60s a new campus was built north of Vanak Square in Teheran.
The Educators and Staff
From opening of the school to the end the principals of the school were French, directors under him were Iranians in the Iranian section and French in the French section, the teachers were mainly French, Belgian, Iranian, and other countries such as the old Yugoslavia for P.E.
Le Lycée Razi Culture
Le Lycée Razi, a private school, was created by the Mission Laïque Française with the mission to share French culture around the world and create an international alliance between its students around the world and to sensitize students to international issues. This mission has created many schools around the world, including in the United States two of them in Texas for example. The Mission Laïque Française's curriculum is recognized officially by the French Government, and the high school final tests for the Baccalauréat diplomas were sent to France to be graded with the approval for the diploma coming from one of the French departments (believed to be Rhône-Alpes) and diplomas were issued in France (or the French Embassy -to be verified-).
Although the Lycée Razi stands for Razi High School, the system started with preschool going on to kindergarten, then, elementary, middle and high school.
The Lycée Razi school was both for boys and girls mixed in classes which was different from other schools in Iran. This environment created and nurtured an understanding, and learning between both sexes as well as better communication, and cooperation skills, allowing for equality. The girls and young women were not covering their faces or hair.
Lycée Razi's Campus
The school's land was about 70 acres (280,000 m2). This included parking for school buses, cars, 4 tennis courts, a track field, one covered gymnasium, large swimming pool (length to be added), 5 park like yards, one theater for 150 people decorated with crimson color velvet on the walls and seats, with a giant gold sun smiling on the ceiling expanding its rays all the way to the end of the ceiling. The gardens and hills, were filled with roses of different colors, and other flowers, plants, sleeping willows, pine trees and grass.
The walls of the school were made of large limestone blocks. A "natural" clock was on the front yard of the school which showed time depending on the sun's location, an open amphitheater, and art work here and there. One of the yards had small water pools decorated with turquoise color tiles, with the water flowing down to the next pools below for a total of 8 pools on each side of the garden, recreating the sound of water falls surrounded by sleeping willows. The school had a restaurant were warm food and sandwiches were prepared daily. The Kindergarten area was created for the comfort of small children with low height stairs, small size toilettes and sinks. The school encouraged outside activities by organizing skiing trips, and ice skating at the local ice skating ring.
Studying at Le Lycée Razi
Preschool and kindergarten was the time to learn French, in order for the students to be able to follow the future classes taught in French at Le Lycee Razi.
Preschool started for children 3 years old, with French being the only language spoken by the teachers, who were French speaking nationals. These children would then go into kindergarten for 2 more years learning to speak and interact in French, and by the end of the second year in kindergarten they would be fluent in French. This allowed the young students to start their first grade by the age of 6 and follow the classes taught in French.
In the elementary school, all children followed the French Curriculum, but the Iranian students were required to learn Iranian, and Arabic.
At the middle school level the Lycée Razi curriculum and the original group of students was divided into two sections: One Iranian, and one French.
The Iranian section consisted of Iranian students and the French section consisted of French speaking nationals, as well as French speaking Iranians.
high school Both sections system continued all the way to the high school diploma
The Sections
In the Iranian section, the classes were taught in Iranian by Iranian instructors, and followed the Iranian curriculum while other subjects were taught in French by French instructors. Students from the Iranian section obtained the Iranian high school diploma.
The French section in which all classes were taught in French by French instructors, and followed the French National Curriculum and at the end of their study, the students obtained their Baccalauréat which is the French high school diploma. For those who had obtained their French Baccalauréat the entry in French Universities were facilitated.
The Iranian revolution and the end of Le Lycée Razi
During the revolution many French high school teachers refused to leave the country against the recommendation from the French Embassy. This decision on the part the teachers was made in order to help the students in their last year of high school to be allowed to finish their school year and obtain their Baccalauréat. After the revolution in 1980 the Lycee Razi was taken by the new Iranian government without any compensation to the Mission Laïque Francaise for building costs and other costs, thus ending the whole school system known as such and terminating the existence of the Lycée Razi. Since 1980 fraudulent claims have been made that the school which has kept its name is the same school, however, this is erroneous which has created many confusions. Although the school has kept the name "Razi", it has no connection at all with the old school system in any way since 1980. Since the revolution a new school has been created -using the same buildings- with an entirely different curriculum, and culture in accordance with the Islamic Republic ideologies, and it is a male only public school. The differences between the two schools are noticed amongst other things (mixed sexes in the school as well as in the classrooms; all students being fluent in French regardless of their section, which had half of the school following the French curriculum, started from preschool all the way to high school, the amenities and activities of the school not being comparable to what they used to be), by the end of the official agreement between the two original parties, as well as a completely different culture and different goals, therefore offering an entirely different outcome for the students.
Many very young students still attending the school during the revolution found themselves without the support of the same school system.
Razi High School is notable for being a high school where affluent families sent their children, yet many arrangements were made to allow children of less fortunate families to attend. The beauty of the grounds, the reputation for excellent schooling of this establishment still lives around the world as an example. Many of the alumni from this school went on to building outstanding careers in many fields including medicine, physics, engineering, business, law and finance around the world.
Notable alumni
- Farah Pahlavi, The last empress of Iran.
- Ali Reza Pahlavi II, 1976 - (28/4/1966 – 4/1/2011) Younger son of the late Mohammad-Reza Pahlavi Shah of Iran.
- Fereydoun Farrokhzad, (فریدون فرخزاد) Famous Persian singer and show anchor
- Arta Babak, 1976 - Doctor in Chiropractic, Los Angeles, USA
- Amir-Naser Eftetah, 1953 - Tonbak Instructor Tehran, Iran[1]
- Hamid Doost Mohammadian, 1977 - Professor in International Management - Speaker & Strategist - Researcher & Faculty Member at University of Applied Sciences (FHM), Germany - Consultant in International Business for Various Danish and German International Companies.
- Vahid Majidi - Ph.D., Director of WMD Department at FBI, USA[2]
- Arash Hejazi - M.D. An Iranian British author and the witness in death of Neda Agha Soltan
- Arash Hashemi, 1976 - Entrepreneur in Automotive Industry. Also a former Golden Gloves Champion with the United States Amateur Boxing Federation Las Vegas
- Ramin Goudarzi - Pharm.D., MBA, Iranian national basketball player U-19, 1985-1987 USA
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![Razi High School basketball team in Abadan, mid-1960s[3]](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/5f/Basket2.jpg/120px-Basket2.jpg)
Razi High School basketball team in Abadan, mid-1960s[3]
![Razi High School basketball team in Abadan, mid-1960s[3]](/wiki/File:Basket2.jpg)
