Alliance School

Alliance School. An educational institution dedicated to the schooling of Jewish students in Isfahan (established 1319/1901).

The school began its initial period of activity as a branch of the Alliance schools under the supervision of the global Alliance Israélite Universelle established in France. In 1860/1277, six Jews established the Alliance in Paris with the goal of supporting Jews who were oppressed due to their religion and improving their conditions. From the outset, they declared that political matters had no place in the Alliance.¹ This organization was founded many years before the emergence of the ideological political movement of Zionism and prior to the creation of a state called Israel. The Alliance was established in Iran in 1316/1898 during the reign of Muẓaffar al-Dīn Shāh, shortly before the Constitutional Revolution, with the support of the French Embassy in Tehran, and it continued to operate for more than a century.²

The Alliance school in Isfahan was the third branch of the Alliance school network in Iran, following the branches in Tehran and Hamadan. The school was located in the Jūbāre* quarter, and a significant number of Jewish children studied there.³ At the time, the institution of “public education” in Iran was not state-run, and staff from the global Alliance Israélite Universelle managed the Isfahan branch,⁴ implementing their own specialized curriculum.⁵ Alongside the school, there was also a synagogue for religious ceremonies and worship.

The school originally located in Jūbāre was later moved to a rented house on Ḥāfeẓ Street*. In 1929/1308, a large estate on Mushīr Street*—comprising a building and garden, a spinning factory, a bakery shop, a carriage house and a barnyard (bahārband)—with a total area of about nine jarībs (approximately 9,000 m²) —was purchased, and the school continued its activities there. The school was initially for boys. After three or four years, a girls’ section was added, separated from the boys’ section by a wall. The girls’ section included a synagogue*, a library, chemistry and physics laboratories, and modern sports equipment.⁶ In the late Qajar period, with the outbreak of World War I (August 1914/1293), foreign support for the Alliance school ceased for a time, and after a year of closure, the school resumed operations with financial support from the Jewish community*.⁷

With the establishment of a national public education system, the Alliance school in Isfahan, like other foreign schools, was required by order of the Ministry of Education to implement the regulations of Iran’s unified education system. The process of aligning the Alliance with other Iranian schools continued during the Pahlavi era. In the 1933–1934/1312–1313 academic year, the school’s name was changed from “Alliance” to “Etteḥād*”, the teaching of French at the elementary level was prohibited, and textbooks approved by the Ministry of Education were introduced. Nevertheless, until 1939/1318, when licenses for foreign schools in Iran were revoked, the Alliance school in Isfahan was still officially considered a foreign institution.⁸

Support from the global Alliance Israélite Universelle enabled many Jewish children to receive free education at the Alliance school in Isfahan.⁹ In the early Pahlavi period, the school operated at both primary and secondary levels, with separate schools for boys and girls.¹⁰ During the first phase of its activity (until 1939/1318), the school was consistently headed by a French national; however, during the reign of Reza Shah, its teachers and instructors were employed by the Ministry of Education. After the integration of Jewish schools into the national education system, this school differed from other public schools only in its observance of religious holidays.¹¹

In 1959/1338, after two decades of prohibition on foreign schools operating in Iran, the Ministry of Culture granted a license for the “Lower Secondary Boys’ School of Etteḥād” in Isfahan under the name of Dr. Nūrullāh Ḥayyem Shādī. From that time until 1968/1347, the school was administered by Abū al-Faẓl Humāyī, a retired teacher from the Ministry of Culture who held a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and literature from Dānesh-Sarā-ye ‛Ālī.¹² The institution soon obtained a license to operate a primary school for the Jewish community of Isfahan under the name Etteḥād Primary School. Mrs. Baygum Pezeshk was the license holder and principal of the Etteḥād National Primary School. Over time, the school received authorization from the General Office of Culture of Isfahan to operate lower secondary classes and was subsequently converted into a girls’ secondary school. The official license for the Etteḥād Girls’ Secondary School was issued in 1961/1340. According to the license, the school principal was to be appointed by the Office of Culture.¹³

It is worth noting that during this period, the Etteḥād School received educational subsidies from the Ministry of Education. Beginning in 1962/1341, the employment of retired government employees in institutions receiving state subsidies was prohibited. Consequently, the Ministry of Culture opposed the continued directorship of Abū al-Faẓl Humāyī at the Etteḥād School. Ultimately, Humāyī was allowed to remain as principal on the condition that the school’s monthly government subsidy be discontinued. After Humāyī, Muhammad-Bāqer Dāvarpanāh served as the principal of the Etteḥād Secondary School.

By 1965/1344, the Alliance School offered the full cycle of primary and secondary education for both boys and girls, with a total of 900 students enrolled. By that year, around 200 students had graduated with diplomas. At this time, the school campus covered approximately one hectare (10,000 m²).¹⁴ The school building, which still stands today, was constructed through the efforts of a member of the Jewish community of Iraqi origin, Yeḥezqel Kūkū, with support from the global Alliance Israélite Universelle and contributions from the Jewish community of Isfahan. In the late Pahlavi period, the Etteḥād Secondary School was converted into a middle school.¹⁵

In 1979/1358, following the Islamic Revolution, the Etteḥād Boys’ School—located on Hātef-e Eṣfahānī Street*, Mushīr (Yakhchāl) Street —was handed over to the Ministry of Education. In 1981/1360, after the martyrdom of Muhammad-Bāqer Ḥalabīyān, a Muslim student from the neighborhood who was killed in the Iran–Iraq War, the school was renamed Shahīd Muhammad-Bāqer Ḥalabīyān School. In 1986/1365, another part of the property was also allocated to the Ministry of Education.¹⁶ Over time, the building—which had been constructed with traditional materials—deteriorated, and parts of it were demolished in the 2010s/1390s. Nevertheless, the grounds and structure of the school still exist, and today it functions as a technical vocational high school. The synagogue within the complex also remains active. Notably, the location of the Shahīd Ḥalabīyān School was used as a filming site for the television series Qeṣṣehā-ye Majīd (The Tales of Majīd)*, directed by Kīyūmarth Pūrahmad*. In 2019/1398, the Faculty of Conservation at the Isfahan University of Art* prepared a student bachelor’s thesis proposing a restoration plan for the historic Etteḥād School, though it has yet to be implemented.

/Masoud Tareh/

Bibliography

Ābādīyān, Hussein, Buḥrān-e Mashrūṭīyat dar Iran, Tehran: Mu’assese-ye Muṭāla‛āt va Pazhūheshhā-ye Sīyāsī, 2004/1383.

Anne, Claude, Gulhā-ye Surḵ-e Eṣfahān: Iran bā Utūmubīl, Safar-nāme-ye Claude Anne, trans. Faḍlullah Jalveh, Tehran: Revāyat, 1991/1370.

Aubin, Eugène, Iran-e Emrūz, 1906–1907, trans., annotated, and commentary by Ali-Aṣghar Sa‛īdī, Tehran: Zavvār, 1983/1362.

Burūkhīm, Sulaymān, principal and license holder of the Alliance School since 1965/1344, interview, interviewer: Leā Dānīyālī, Dey 24, 1403/January 14, 2025.

Cohen, Abraham, “Taḥavvulātī Chand dar Ta‛līm va Tarbīyat-e Yahūdīyān dar Iran”, in Pādyāvand, ed. Amnon Netzer, vol. 1, Los Angeles: Mazda, 1996.

Confino, Albert, “Khāṭerāt-e Safar-e Iran: Ta’sīs-e Madrese-ye Ālyāns dar Tehrān”, in Pādyāvand, ed. Amnon Netzer, vol. 3, Los Angeles: Mazda, 1999.

“Du Dabīrestān-e Kāmelan Mujahhaz va Āberūmand”, Eṭṭelā‛āt-e Haftagī, no. 1220, 1965/1344.

Edalatnejad, Saeid, Jāygāh-e Ḥūqūqī-ye Gheyr-e-Musalmānān dar Feqh-e Shī‛a va Qavānīn-e Īrān: 1906–2018, Tehran: Nashr-e Ney, 2018/1397.

Eṣfahān Zībā, 2024/1403.
Retrieved April 13, 2025, from: https://esfahanzibaonline.ir/71240

Levy, Ḥabīb, Tārīkh-e Yahūd-e Iran, Tehran: Burūkhīm Bookstore, 1955–1960/1334–1339.

Nāṭeq, Humā, Kārnāme-ye Farhangī-ye Farangī dar Iran, Paris: Khāvarān, 1996/1375.

Sheikh Reḍāʾī, Ensīyeh, “Madāres-e Farānseh dar Iran”, Ganjīneh-ye Asnād, no. 7–8, Fall–Winter 1992/1371.

1. ‛Edalatnejad, p. 149.[↩]
2. Some Iranian authors consider this organization a branch of Zionism or even its founder. For example, see: Ābādīyān, chapter 8, especially pp. 265–266, 268–269.[↩]
3.  See: Chehrenamā, 15 Ṣafar 1323, no. 533, p. 12; Anne, pp. 270–272; Nāṭeq, p. 138.[↩]
4. See: Levy, vol. 3, pp. 988–989; Confino, p. 263; Aubin, p. 310.[↩]
5. National Archives and Library of Iran, document no. 1442698.[↩]
6. Jewish Association of Isfahan, “Property Document [Alliance School],” no. 2370; Burūkhīm, interview dated Ābān 24, 1403/November 15, 2024.[↩]
7. Sheikh Reḍāʾī, pp. 99, 101.[↩]
8. National Archives and Library of Iran, document no. 1439765.[↩]
9. See: Akhgar (Isfahan), 1934/1313, year 7, no. 1031, p. 2.[↩]
10.  See: Ibid., 1934/1313, year 7, no. 1026, p. 4; no. 1046, p. 3.[↩]
11. Jewish Association of Isfahan, “Property Document [Alliance School],” no. 2370; see also: Cohen, p. 126.[↩]
12. National Archives and Library of Iran, document no. 1454776.[↩]
13.  National Archives and Library of Iran, document no. 1437050.[↩]
14. “Du Dabīrestān …”, p. 82. [↩]
15. Ibid.; see also: National Archives and Library of Iran, document no. 2228592.[↩]
16. Jewish Association of Isfahan, “Property Document [Alliance School],” no. 2370; Burūkhīm, interview dated Ābān 24, 1403/November 15, 2024; Eṣfahān Zībā, 2024/1403.[↩]