Iranian officials have banned the teaching of English in primary schools.Mehdi Navid-Adham, chief of Iran's High Education Council,informed state television of the ban last Saturday.The move came after Islamic leaders warnedthat early learning of the English languagehas led to a Western "cultural invasion"."Teaching English in government and non-government primary schoolsin the official curriculum is against laws and regulations," Navid-Adham said.He added that the government may also stop non-curriculum English classes.The reasoning, Navid-Adham said, is that the groundwork,or basis, of Iranian culture should be taught to young children.In Iran, English language training is usually offered in middle school,to students from 12 to 14 years of age.However, in some primary schools,students may begin taking English classes at younger ages.Some Iranian children also attend foreign language classesat private education centers after normal school hours.Iran's Islamic leaders have often warned about the dangers of "cultural invasion."In 2016, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei voiced concernover the "teaching of the English language spreading to nursery schools".In a speech to teachers, Khamenei said that his concern,"Does not mean opposition to learning a foreign language,but (this is the) promotion of a foreign culturein the country and among children, young adults and youths."Khamenei accused Western countries of promoting their cultureswith Iranian youth as a way of expanding their influence in Iran,according to his office's website.In the same speech, he urged Iranians to spend more time and moneyon the teaching of the Persian language, instead of English.Last Saturday, Navid-Adham told state televisionthat government officials want to strengthen "Persian language skillsand Iranian Islamic culture at the primary school stage."He added that it would now be against the law to teach Englishat the primary school level,either during or outside of normal school hours.The Reuters news agency reported that in the past,other languages have also been targeted by Iranian officials.In 2017, Iran's intelligence agencybanned the publication of a Kurdish-language instruction book.In his announcement, Navid-Adham did not linkthe new language education rules to recent anti-government protests.Iran's Revolutionary Guards have blamed foreign enemies for the unrest.A video dealing with the announcement of the banwas widely shared on social media on Sunday.A number of Iranians have jokingly called it "The filtering of English."Some compare it to the blocking of the popular app Telegramby the government during the protests.