amina_roshan

An Iranian social entrepreneur who established the first girls' schools in rural Iran during the 1930s

Amina Roshan (1908–1989) was a visionary educator who defied cultural norms to create Iran's first network of rural girls' schools. Born to a carpet-weaving family in Yazd, she secretly taught herself to read using her father's business ledgers. After graduating from Tehran University in 1932 (one of only 12 female graduates), she founded the Roozbeh School for Girls in her hometown, defying laws that restricted women's education to domestic subjects.

Roshan's 1938 book <《The Right to Read》 became a clandestine bestseller, inspiring 500 underground girls' classes by 1945. Her Mobile School Caravans traveled 15,000 km annually, teaching 2,000 rural girls basic literacy and mathematics. During WWII, she trained 120 women as midwives and nurses through her Health Literacy Program, improving infant mortality rates in central Iran by 30%.

Roshan's 1953 partnership with UNICEF led to the first national girls' education policy in 1960. Her 1968 establishment of the Women's Technical Institute trained 3,000 women in trades like carpentry and engineering. Despite imprisonment during the 1953 coup, she continued her work, later mentoring Shirin Ebadi. Today, her methods are studied at MIT's Abdul Latif Jameel World Education Lab, and her legacy is celebrated through the Amina Roshan Literacy Awards.