The Farsi-speaking communities of British Columbia are more than three decades old. Like other immigrant communities, they were committed to preserving their language and culture, sharing it with their neighbours, and passing it on to their kids. As a result, the efforts to teach the mother tongue to our kids were always prevalent in different forms, which brings us to our campaign.

 

Farsi dar BC is a grassroots campaign of Farsi-speaking communities in British Columbia, Canada, to bring Farsi as a second language option to schools in BC. The goal is to provide the opportunity for all students to learn Farsi, during school hours, under a standard curriculum, and for credit.

 

Farsi dar BC began its work in September 2018. Over the past years, Iranian and Afghan communities collaborated to reach out to local school districts and the Ministry of Education to find a way to make our collective dream a reality. We were fortunate to have the support of the education system in BC, academia and experts in the Farsi language, and most importantly, families. Our campaign was focused on two issues:

-drafting the Farsi 5-12 curriculum and getting it approved.

-preparing certified teachers to offer the course

-mobilizing families and students to show the demand to schools.

 

We achieved the first step through the dedication of a group of BC School teachers, supported by Farsi language and literature experts, and the academic support from Simon Fraser University’s Dr. Rastin Mehri. The work started in 2019, resulting in the approval of Farsi 11 in Burnaby School District (SD41 - Byrne Creek Community School) in January 2020. The global pandemic of COVID-19 stalled the campaign for a while until the team reconnected with the Ministry of Education in May 2021 and began working on the comprehensive draft for Farsi 5-12. We ultimately submitted this curriculum to Coquitlam School District (SD43) for approval. The Board of Education of SD3 approved it in May 2022 and sent it to the Ministry of Education for final approval. The final approval in July 2022 by the Ministerial Order M196 added Farsi 5-12 to the Provincial Educational Program Guide. As a result, Farsi is now available to all schools in British Columbia.

 

And now, we are focused on identifying and preparing certified Farsi-speaking teachers to offer the course and mobilizing families and students to demand the course and register for it in their schools.

 

With our communities’ support, we believe Farsi will be offered in at least one school by September 2023.

 

Our work will continue until Farsi becomes a sustainable course in our school system in terms of demand and support for teachers.

 

You can join us too.