The chancellors of the Iranian universities in a joint statement have voiced their alarm at the rate of the "brain drain" which has afflicted the centers of learning in the country.

Announcing the cause of the migration of the elite of the country to be prevalence of "psychological insecurity" on the campuses, they sounded an alarm and said the standards of teaching in the universities have suffered greatly and will be in a precarious position in the near future.

The phenomenon of brain drain that is now turning into a national crisis is not limited only to academics and students. The economic hardships, absence of job opportunities in the industry and the ever increasing rate of unemployment throughout the country has made emigration into an epidemic proportion.

Desire for a better future in the welfare states of Europe have also been instrumental in giving hopes to a large number of Iranian youths who leave the country seeking an easier life in what they consider to be greener pastures of Europe.

Recently the minister of science, research and technology announced the alarming figure of some 220,000 leading university professors, academicians and expert industrialist and technocrats who have left the country for Western destinations during the past one year.

The reason for the large numbers of academicians leaving the country as given by the university chancellors, is a drastic simplification of the root cause of this unfortunate and regrettable matter. Using ambiguous academic jargon like "psychological insecurity" can only cause misunderstanding and misinterpretation.

This explanation and reasoning have now been pounced upon by some newspapers affiliated to certain political factions and made into a political issue. Referring to the events that took place in the Tehran University dormitory last year, these interested parties through banner headlines in their newspapers have tried to gain political leverage out of it, conveniently forgetting the main reasons for the phenomenon.

Last year's events at the Tehran University was indeed an unfortunate episode of transgression and wrongdoing against the freedom and autonomy of the universities. Although the events have been condemned vociferously and those responsible have been brought to justice, it seems that some elements within the political framework of the country still try to make political headway by blaming almost every shortcomings in society on those events.

"Psychological insecurity", whatever it is meant to convey, is not the reason for the large emigration of the country's elite. The answer must be looked for within a basket of inadequacies surrounding the social needs and welfare of the educated classes in the country.

Emigration from the country is not unfortunately limited only to university professors, doctors and engineers. A great number of young people are also leaving the country in droves. A cursory glance at the number of Iranians seeking asylum in almost every European country as economic emigrants shows the true dimension of this social malady.

Isolated incidents may be instrumental in making decisions to emigrate. But they cannot be considered root cause for what has become a mass exodus of the country's best.

The government is the main culprit. As long as the specialized and expert work force of the country whether teachers, professors, doctors, engineers, technicians, managers or industrial workers are not taken care of in accordance with their station and position; as long they do not have the necessary job security they seek and deserve; as long there is no social security they should enjoy and as long as they are not given the respect and deference they deserve, then the problem of emigration will continue to exist and accelerate.

The increase in the emigration of Iranian nationals with whatever academic or specialized background is a blot on the worksheet of the government. The attempt of particular political factions with vested interests to divert attention from the real causes of this phenomena and making a political issue of this grave national concern, and refraining to implement required measures to stem the flow, is a disservice to the people and the country.