Private Tuition

When private tutors make sense — the etiquette around Islamic studies, and the very affordable market for one-to-one Farsi lessons.

Hiring private tutors for Islamic studies is not a common practice, since the tradition of the hawzah promotes the propagation of Islamic education gratuitously. If you do arrange private classes, however, there is a custom of not refusing a gift once it has been offered. Some students take advantage of this by presenting their tutors with gifts, whether monetary or otherwise.

Hiring private tutors for the Persian language, by contrast, is very common and reasonably priced — typically between $2 and $4 USD per hour. This can be particularly valuable for the wives of full-time students who are caring for young children at home and unable to attend scheduled classes, as well as for older children who intend to enter an Iranian school and may need extra help. Private tutors can be found through recommendations from friends and other students, through the hawzah or schools, or by searching online on websites such as divar.ir.