The White Tent programme: Tribal Education Under Muhammad Reza Shah

This essay examines the White Tent programme which took place in Iran and brought education to nomads between 1953 and 1979; that is, from Mosaddeq's fall to the Islamic Revolution, after which this programme continued but the banner of the white tent was taken away. Those urban teachers who in the 1950s were sent among nomads could not get used to living in a tent, moving from winter to summer pasture, without a chance to receive a doctor's attention in case they fell ill. According to the Iranian government, nomadic life was supposedly harsher than in the villages; only nomads could cope with such difficulties, and, therefore, only nomads could be teachers in their own tribes. However, foreign visitors witnessed among nomads little sickness, an active outdoor existence, and acceptable hygienic conditions. This article is based on archive material, mainly found in the UNESCO archives in Paris.