High school students in about 20 Iranian provinces have held protests against education policies, final exam rules and changes affecting the national university entrance exam, with some gatherings met by violence and arrests.
The protests, which began in late May in western and central Iran, initially focused on how final exams were being held. They later grew into a broader demand to cancel the fixed impact of 11th-grade GPA scores on the national university entrance exam, or at least change it to a positive-only effect.
Students have protested in West Azarbaijan, Isfahan, Tehran, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, Razavi Khorasan, North Khorasan, Khuzestan, Zanjan, Sistan and Baluchestan, Fars, Qazvin, Qom, Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad, Gilan, Lorestan, Mazandaran, Markazi and Yazd provinces.
In Yazd, several students were injured during clashes at a protest. In Qom, at least one person was arrested. In Saveh, education department staff clashed with protesters.
Students in Shahrekord, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province, gathered on Saturday alongside students in other provinces and chanted against education policies, including: “Student, cry out! demand your rights” and “Incompetent official we don’t want you.”
A video sent to Iran International showed students in Tehran gathering outside the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution to protest its decisions on the university entrance exam. They chanted: “Justice, education, our undeniable right.”
Earlier in June, students in Khorramabad gathered outside Lorestan’s education department and demanded transparency over the holding of exams. Similar gatherings were reported in Arak and Isfahan, where students protested in-person exams and poor educational conditions.
The protests reached a peak this week in Tehran, when a group of 11th- and 12th-grade students gathered outside the Ministry of Education to oppose the fixed impact of 11th-grade GPA scores on university entrance results.
Students held banners reading “Hear the voice of Iran’s students” and demanded that the policy be scrapped or changed to a positive-only effect.
Dozens of students have sent messages to Iran International criticizing uncertainty in education policy, saying repeated changes to exam and entrance rules have placed heavy psychological pressure on them.
They say the current generation of university applicants has already faced school closures, online education, social crises and repeated changes to education rules, and should not be harmed again by another shift in entrance exam policy.
