رئیس سازمان تبلیغات اسلامی از تعداد اندک دانش‌آموزان مدارس معارف اسلامی انتقاد کرد. وزیر آموزش و پرورش هم دستور داد: «همه نهادها برای توسعه این مدارس گام‌های جدی بردارند».

مهدی خاموشی رئیس سازمان تبلیغات اسلامی ایران از آنچه که «کم‌توجهی به مدارس معارف اسلامی» خواند، انتقاد کرد و گفت: «رشته معارف اسلامی نباید عقب بماند».

به گزارش خبرگزاری مهر خاموشی دوشنبه ۲۷ فروردین تعداد دانش‌آموزان رشته معارف اسلامی را در مقایسه با دانش‌آموزان مقطع متوسطه اندک و «خلاء بزرگ» دانست.

او آمار مشخصی از تعداد دانش‌آموزان رشته معارف اسلامی که از سال ۱۳۸۱ به نظام آموزشی ایران افزوده شد، بیان نکرد. پیش از این رئیس سازمان مدارس معارف اسلامی شمار دانش‌آموزان این شاخه را ۱۰ هزار تن در ۱۵۰ مدرسه اعلام کرده بود.

داوود بهرامسری دی ماه سال قبل گفته بود که سالانه یک هزار تا یک هزار و ۵۰۰ دانش‌آموز در این مدارس با هدف «تربیت نیروهای مومن و انقلابی و متخصص در خنثی سازی توطئه های فرهنگی و جنگ نرم دشمن» پذیرفته می‌شوند.

خاموشی نیز از آموزش و پرورش خواست که با گسترش مدارس معارف اسلامی برای حوزه‌های علمیه نیرو تامین کند.

او گفت که مدارس معارف اسلامی «باید افراد مجاهد فی سبیل‌الله را برای جمهوری اسلامی تامین کند».

محمد بطحایی وزیر آموزش و پرورش ایران هم در پیامی به همایش «به سوی تعالی» که به منظور معرفی رشته معارف اسلامی برگزار گردید، خواستار همراهی این وزارتخانه و دیگر نهادها برای آنچه که «توسعه مدارس معارف اسلامی» خواند، شد.

او نیز شمار مدارس معارف اسلامی را «اندک» دانست و اعلام کرد که این مدارس «عهده‌دار تعلیم و تربیت تراز جمهوری اسلامی هستند».

وزیر آموزش و پرورش افزایش مدارس معارف اسلامی را از مواردی برشمرد که مبتنی و مورد تاکید سند تحول آموزش و پرورش است.

توسعه مدارس معارف اسلامی یکی از برنامه‌های آموزش و پرورش ایران برای اجرای آنچه که «اسلامی کردن آموزش» خوانده می‌شود، است.

این وزارتخانه در یک تفاهنمامه همکاری دیگر با حوزه علمیه، طرح «امین» را با استقرار مبلغان مذهبی حوزه‌های علیمه  در مدارس به اجرا گذاشته است.

براساس اعلام مقام‌های مسئول در قالب اجرای این طرح ۵ هزار مبلغ مذهبی به صورت تمام وقت و ۱۹ هزار مبلغ به صورت پاره‌وقت در مدارس حضور دارند.

علاءالدین بروجردی، رئیس کمیسیون امنیت ملی و امنیت خارجی مجلس و از مدافعان سرسخت فیلترینگ تلگرام بار دیگر از این اقدام دفاع کرد و گفت کسانی که اطلاعات افراد را در فضای مجازی منتشر کنند جریمه خواهند شد.

علاءالدین بروجردی با اشاره به طرح موضوع فیلترینگ تلگرام گفت: «این مهم سیاست نظام و موضوعی قابل دفاع و کاملاً منطقی است.»

او افزود: «تصویب اینترنت رایگان به‌منظور جابه‌جایی به شبکه مجازی ایرانی و تحریم شرعی و جریمه برای کسانی که بخواهند اطلاعات افراد را منتشر کنند از جمله تمهیدات درنظر گرفته شده در این مورد است.»

علاءالدین بروجردی پیش از این گفته بود که تصمیم برای مسدودکردن تلگرام تا پایان فروردین‌ماه جاری «در بالاترین سطح» اتخاذ شده است.

او همچنین گفته بود که «اطلاعات رد و بدل شده در تلگرام در اختیار انگلیس، آلمان و رژیم صهونیستی قرار می‌گیرد» و «صاحب تلگرام روسی‌الاصل و یهودی‌زاده است، که به دلیل امنیتی از روسیه خارج شد و تابعیت دیگری گرفته است».

یکی از دلایل اصلی این‌که مسئولان حکومتی قصد فیلترینگ تلگرام را کرده‌‌اند اعتراضات سراسری دی‌‌ماه سال گذشته است که معترضان برای برگزاری تجمعات خود و یا بازتاب خبرهای آن از این شبکه استفاده می‌کردند.

ابوالحسن فیروزآبادی، دبیر شورای عالی فضای مجازی، دوشنبه ۲۰ فروردین در این‌باره گفت: «وزارت ارتباطات با تلگرام توافقاتی داشت که در این راستا همکاری‌های خوبی تا دی‌ماه ۹۶ انجام شد اما در ماجراهای دی‌ماه سال ۹۶ تلگرام به توافقات عمل نکرد.»

شمار کاربران ایرانی پیام‌رسان تلگرام به بیش از ۴۰ میلیون تن می‌رسد.

ایرانی‌ها در تلگرام بیش از ۶۰۰ هزار کانال عمومی دارند که ۴۰ درصد آن‌ها را فروشگاه‌های مجازی تشکیل می‌دهند. فیلترینگ این شبکه‌ اجتماعی می‌تواند به کاربران آن و دولت ایران ضربه اقتصادی بزرگی وارد آورد.

حسن روحانی، رئیس جمهوری اسلامی ۱۴ فروردین از «ایجاد فضایی امن‌تر و توأم با آرامش و آسایش بیشتر» در فضای مجازی حرف زد و گفت: «هدف از ایجاد و تقویت نرم‌افزارها و پیام‌رسان‌های داخلی فیلتر و یا مسدود کردن دسترسی‌ها نباید باشد، بلکه باید با هدف رفع انحصار در پیام‌رسان‌ها انجام شود.»

یکی از پیام‌رسان‌های داخلی که قرار است جایگزین پیام‌رسان‌های خارجی شود «سروش» نام دارد اما شرکت اپل در «اپ‌استور» این پیام‌رسان داخلی ایران را از دسترس خارج کرده است.

دادگاهی در روسیه دستور فیلترینگ پیام‌رسان تلگرام را صادر کرد. قضات دادگاه بر اساس دادخواستی از سوی سازمان نظارت بر رسانه‌های روسیه رأی به این حکم دادند.

خبرگزاری اسپوتنیک گزارش داد که روند دادگاه ۱۸ دقیقه به‌طول انجامید.

فیلترینگ تلگرام در روسیه به‌دلیل آن صورت می‌گیرد که این شبکه پیام‌رسان از واگذاری کلید‌های رمزگشایی به سازمان امنیت فدرال روسیه سر باز زده است.

سازمان نظارت بر رسانه‌های روسیه روز ۶ آوریل / ۱۷ فروردین از دادگاه درخواست کرده بود که مجوز فیلترینگ این پیام‌رسان را صادر کند.

بازپرسان پرونده ادعا می‌کردند که چت‌های رمزگذاری‌شده نیز می‌توانند توسط سازمان‌های تروریستی مورد استفاده قرار گیرند.

رأی دادگاه باید فوراً اجرا شود اما وکلای مدافع تلگرام می‌توانند درخواست تجدیدنظر کنند.

پاول دورُف، بنیانگذار ۳۴ ساله تلگرام واگذاری کلید‌های رمزگشایی به سازمان امنیت فدرال روسیه را غیرقانونی و برخلاف آزادی بیان و مصونیت زندگی خصوصی می‌داند. او زمانی هم که در شبکه اجتماعی «وی‌کی» فعال بود حاضر نشده بود که صفحات سیاسی مخالفان دولت روسیه را از این شبکه حذف کند. «وی‌کی» یا «و کا»، پیام‌رسانی است که در روسیه، اوکراین، قزاقستان، مولداوی و بلاروس مورد استفاده قرار می‌گیرد.

در روزهای اخیر زمزمه فیلترینگ تلگرام در ایران نیز به راه افتاده است. یکی از دلایل اصلی این‌ اقدام اعتراضات سراسری دی‌‌ماه سال گذشته است که معترضان برای برگزاری تجمعات خود و یا بازتاب خبرهای آن از این شبکه پیام‌رسان استفاده می‌کردند.

تلگرام در سراسر جهان حدود ۲۰۰ میلیون کاربر دارد. شمار کاربران ایرانی تلگرام به بیش از ۴۰ میلیون نفر می‌رسد.

Every week, somewhere in Iran, there’s a workers’ strike. People from different sectors and industries voice their grievances — usually about pay, or lack of it

Protests like this hit the headlines in late December and early January, when people all over the country went out in the streets demanding change — workers demanding pay and adequate pensions, but also people from other walks of life demanding equality, a better standard of living and transparency in government. But these protests are nothing new;  they have become a regular occurrence in many cities and towns across the country for many months

When it comes to the employees who take to the streets on a regular basis, they come from many different sectors and industries. They are miners, government or municipality employees or retired teachers, and they all have one shared concern: They want to be paid. Many have gone for long periods without wages; their paychecks are either late or fall short of what was promised. They call out for what they are entitled to, but also, they demand to know why, in an economy rich with natural resources, neither the authorities nor their employers can guarantee regular payment arrangements

The majority of the protesters work either for government-run companies or for conglomerates closely affiliated with the political establishment. At the same time, an increasing number of private businesses cannot pay their staff either

Ali, a 35-year-old engineer employed by a workshop southwest of the capital Tehran, spoke to IranWire about his situation. He has not been paid for three months. “I have not had a regular paycheck for five years now; my employer pays when he has money”. When he doesn’t have the money to pay, Ali and his wife borrow from their parents, use their savings and scrape by until the next paycheck comes along. Even so, Ali considers himself to be fortunate. “I have a job and an employer who pays my salary, even though it’s late,” he says

Ali does not blame his employer for delays in his pay. He knows that sales are extremely volatile. Sometimes his employers find it impossible to find a buyer for their products. And then when they do find buyers, sometimes they don’t actually pay, or their checks bounce and they are nowhere to be found. Some buyers use delay tactics to avoid paying in full or to they force Ali’s employer into settling for a portion of what is owed. Resorting to Iran’s legal system is of no use, as judges and the judiciary fail to take action in these cases

Ali may forgive the private entrepreneur for late payment, but workers for conglomerates like the Iran National Steel Industrial Group (INSIG) or Haft Tappeh Sugarcane Agroindustry Company cannot forgive their employers, or their political affiliations. INSIG employs 4,000 workers, and they have not been paid for more than four months. When workers came out on the streets of Ahwaz, the capital of oil-rich Khuzestan province, to protest, authorities arrested them instead of listening to their grievances. In December, workers at Haft Tappeh went on strike to demand five months' worth of back pay. After a five-day strike, the management promised the workers they would be paid— a promise that was reiterated by the provincial authorities. No one said the workers were wrong to make their claims, and all seemed to be rallying to their assistance. Believing the promises, Haft Tapeh employees returned to work. However, this was yet another unfulfilled promise

It took the suicide of one worker, Ali Naghadi, for the management to follow through on its promise — and then it only did so partially.  Instead of receiving five months of back pay, Haft Tappeh workers received their December pay in February

And then, two weeks before the Iranian New Year celebrations, the Haft Tappeh Sugarcane Agroindustry Company’s Public Relations Office announced that the factory was shutting down. One employee from the Haft Tappeh accounting department revealed on Twitter that the factory closure was a tactic to avoid paying them — if there was no work to carry out, then workers could not demand to be paid. However, it seemed that only the laborers were told to go home; those in management and administration roles remained at the company and kept their jobs

Omid, a 50-year-old business analyst who lives in Ahwaz, talked to IranWire. Omid has been following the events at Haft Tappeh closely, and assessing why these conglomerates fail to pay their staff. “The management teams at such organizations are not competent. Their priorities are not business-oriented,” he says. And in most cases, the management owes its position to the political establishment, not to its productivity or its market performance. In fact, INSIG, Haft Tappeh and similar entities have had several management teams at the helm, all of which have added to the businesses’ accumulated losses — making the companies more dependent on government subsidies and funding

Currently, Omid Asabeigi is Haft Tappeh's CEO. Barely into his thirties, Asabeigi purchased Haft Tappeh two years ago for less than US$2 million. He claims to be a private entrepreneur, but many people regard him as the front man for a special interest group. It is rumored that his family-owned holding company manages several businesses across Iran. Asadbeigi seems more concerned with public relations, maintaining his political connections and keeping contacts happy than he is in making sure his workers are treated well. As workers began their strike to demand their back-pay, Asadbeigi was pouring funds into the sponsorship of Khuzestan Isteghlal Football Club. On the eve of the Iranian New Year — a time when Iranian families particularly need money — Shakila Monfared, an employee of Haft Tappeh’s accounting department, posted the following comment on Twitter: “All departments are paid their salaries, New Year bonus and other benefits in full except for workers at Haft Tappeh 

But Haft Tappeh is just one example of many, in which employees in similar companies and semi-public businesses have gone without pay for long periods. While analysts argue the phenomenon is due to lack of sales, insufficient production or financial challenges, it is notable that the people in charge of these organizations neither seek new markets nor prioritize boosting the generation of revenue. And for the most part, these businesses have no reporting procedures in place, and no proper financial analysis. Where there are some procedures in place, says Omid, the analyst I spoke to, they are not reliable. “It is impossible to trust accounting reports, when we know accounting standards and best practices are not followed,” he says. Companies face mounting challenges in an unpredictable economy where banks are not part of the global network. The fact that their managers do not want to take on these challenges demonstrates there is no solution in place to deal with the economic environment, or with any volatilities that may affect it. 

Of course, it is not the management, board members or the white-collar workforce who pay for economic instability or deteriorating sales. The workers do. When they speak up, they are confronted by police and the security forces. Promises coming from high up in the company cannot be trusted. Workers know they rank very low on the management’s list of priorities. Yet at the same time, they ask: If the goal is not to produce goods, then why will no one admit it? More and more, Iranian workers come to the conclusion that they and their families must pay for the mistakes of others, and for the rampant cronyism in Iran. As their anger, despondency and determination builds, their protests will continue. The question is: when will Iranian employers — and, crucially, Iranian politicians and leaders

A banking crisis has taken hold in Iran, with financial institutions suffering crippling losses and unable to pay the interest on deposits, according to new data released by the country’s largest banks

Banks trading on the Tehran Stock Exchange have endured operating losses of 17 trillion tomans, or close to $4.5 billion, a situation that has worsened year on year and looks set to continue

Iran’s 10 biggest banks — Tejarat, Saderat, Mellat, Parsian, Sarmayeh, Eghtesad-e Novin, Gardeshgari, Dey, Ghavamin and Iran Zamin — have revealed the extent of the crisis. In particular, operating losses for Mellat and Saderat banks increase on a daily basis. According to a Bank Mellat statement published on the Comprehensive Database Of All Listed Companies (Codal), an information system run by Iran’s Security and Exchange Organization, the main reason for the crisis is the absence of “an appropriate market for the sale of its assets

For some time now, Iran’s Central Bank has been hoping that Iranian banks could help cure some of the ills besetting the financial industry by selling off assets, but in reality, there is simply no market to support such a plan

Shareholders Pay the Price

The information recently supplied to Codal by Tejarat and Saderat reveals that the two banks have lost a total of three billion dollars, in almost equal amounts, although Tejarat has lost slightly more. According to the newspaper Hamshahri, this is the biggest loss in the history of Tehran’s stock market. And it will be the shareholders who will pay the price

Figures show that Bank Tejarat’s loss amounts to two and a half times the total value of its shares. For Bank Saderat, the amount is over two times the value of its shares. In other words, even if all the shares of these banks were to be sold, the sale would not even come close to compensating for all accumulated losses

Iran’s eight other major banks are not doing any better. According to the latest information available on Codal, the losses for these banks are as follows

- Mellat, 143 billion tomans, close to $38 million

- Parsian, 350 billion tomans, over $92 million

- Eghtesad-e Novin, 575 billion tomans, close to $151 million

- Iran Zamin, 298 billion tomans, over $78 million

- Sarmayeh, 688 billion tomans, close to $182 million, as of latest available data, published in March 2016

- Dey, 1.403 trillion tomans, over $370 million, according to the latest report published in March 2017

- Gardeshgari, 86 billion tomans, close to $23 million

- Ghavamin, 8 billion tomans, over $2 million

No recent information is available for Bank Pasargad. For the last three years the bank has failed to provide its shareholders with transparent financial statements

Two Years of Transparency

The publication of banks’ financial statements began two years ago when the Central Bank, in it its role as the regulating agency, took steps toward becoming transparent. According to the parliament’s Research Center, following this move, the bank’s losses began to become evident

In March 2017, the news agency Nasim Online reported that six banks — Saderat, Tejarat, Mellat, Parsian, Eghtesad-e Novin and Sarmayeh — had accumulated a loss of at least 9 trillion tomans, or close to $2.4 billion. According to it, Bank Saderat had accumulated a loss equal to 108 percent of its capital

In late 2016, Fars News Agency published the outcome of a review it had conducted in 2015 looking at the performance of 18 banks. Of the 18, five banks had lost money and nine others saw their profits fall

Evidently, the banking crisis in Iran is getting worse day by day. Several financial experts believe that the losses will continue to pick up throughout the coming year. However, the banking crisis is only one indicator of an overall crisis that reaches across every economic sector in the country —  a crisis the government has been largely unsuccessful in controlling. And the constant political and ideological upsets and rivalries, coupled with the continued influence that hidden players command over the economy, only make the dire situation worse

Head of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee of Iranian Parliament announced that within a month, Telegram App will be completely replaced by a national social media platform

Alaeddin Boroujerdi said in a radio interview that the decision to “phase out” Telegram has been “reached at the highest levels of the country’s leadership” and Telegram will soon be replaced by a “similar national system”

He added that the national app has been named “Soroosh” and added: “This is a vital national security move for us, keeping in mind the detrimental role of Telegram in last year’s crises

Boroujerdi’s reference is to the many protests that took place all across Iran last December when in about one hundred Iranian cities protesters took to the streets to protest against economic and political hardships. The authorities temporarily blocked the Telegram app during the protests

Boroujerdi stressed that their aim is to completely block Telegram by the end of the current Iranian month

Telegram is one of the few social media networks not blocked by the Islamic Republic. Last week the country’s head of the National Virtual Space spoke of the “necessity to bloc Telegram”. The news was echoed by the head of Task Force for Identification of Criminal Content who denied rumors of ending the filtering of Twitter and YouTube saying: “We have reached an unprecedented agreement on ending the domination and influence of enemies over the country`s virtual space

Many interpreted these statements as the imminent censorship of Telegram. Meanwhile Hamideh Zarabadi, a reformist MP revealed that the Supreme Council of Virtual Space has passed a proposal to block Telegram which was immediately followed by outrage from several reformist and conservative MPs. Even President Hassan Rohani spoke out against the decision. Freedom to use Telegram was one of the top items in Rohani`s campaign promises. He had even promised that his government would end the filtering of other social media platforms

Half of Telegram users across the world are in Iran, an estimated 40 million. Iranians reportedly have over 600 thousand public channels on Telegram forty percent of which are online stores. Blocking of Telegram could, therefore, result in a serious blow to these businesses

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei has dubbed this year as “the year of support for Iranian Goods”. In this vein, the Minister of Communications and Technology has made the blocking of Telegram and promoting a national messenger service its top priority

Meanwhile, Alaeddin Boroujerdi noted: “It may be true that Soroosh App only has 3 million subscribers in comparison to Telegram’s 40 million but when Telegram is blocked users will turn to the national platform

Reports indicate that so far only five percent of Telegram users have downloaded the national app

حسین احمدی‌نیاز، وکیل پرونده رامین حسین‌پناهی، زندانی سیاسی کُرد محکوم به اعدام در زندان سنندج در واکنش به تایید حکم موکلش در دیوان عالی کشور طی گفتگویی کوتاه گفت: "رامین در جلسه‌ی رسیدگی، ٢٥ دی‌ماه ٩٦ مدعی شكنجه خود شد و تمامی اقاریر را زیر شكنجه اعلام داشته است، لذا دیوان عالی كشور می‌بایستی به این موضوع رسیدگی می‌كرد كه شوربختانه توجهی به آن نداشته است."

قیمت بلیت اتوبوس‌ درون شهری در تهران ۱۰ تا ۱۵ درصد افزایش می‌یابد. افزایش نرخ کرایه تاکسی نیز همچنان در دست بررسی است.

محمد کرونی دبیر کمیسیون حمل و نقل شهری شورای اسلامی تهران چهارشنبه ۲۲ فروردین اعلام کرد: لایحه پیشنهادی شهرداری برای افزایش نرخ کرایه تاکسی و اتوبوس شهری به شورا رسیده است.

به گفته او در این لایحه پیش‌بینی شده قیمت بلیت اتوبوس‌های بخش عمومی ۱۰ درصد و بخش خصوصی ۱۵ درصد افزایش یابد.

کرونی همچنین از تغییر در محاسبه نرخ کرایه تاکسی خبر داده و گفته است: «نرخ کرایه با توجه به شرایط نامساعد جوی و همچنین اوج ترافیک متفاوت است و افزایش می یابد».

شورای شهر تهران که یک ماه گذشته با استعفای محمدعلی نجفی شهردار درگیر بود، سال گذشته به افزایش قیمت بلیت مترو شهری رای داد.

براساس مصوبه شورای شهر قیمت بلیت سفرهای داخل شهری تهران تا ۱۵۰ درصد افزایش یافته است.

مرتضی الویری عضو شورای شهر تهران در واکنش به افزایش نرخ خدمات شهری گفته است که مردم باید هزینه زندگی در تهران را بپردازند.

پیش از این نیز استاندار سابق تهران گفته بود که باید هزینه زندگی در تهران را بالا برد تا از مهاجرت به این شهر جلوگیری کرد.

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