ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Students held protests in multiple provinces across Iran on Saturday against education and university admission policies, marking one of the largest nationwide student mobilizations since the government's crackdown on the January anti-government protests.
A wave of demonstrations took place outside provincial education departments in the provinces of Fars, Tehran, Markazi, and Lorestan, as well as in other cities across the country, according to the Coordination Council of Iranian Educators' Unions.
Students are protesting the policy of "grade point average having a definitive impact" on the university entrance exam and the "GPA improvement scheme", according to the educators’ union, which described the measures as increasing “psychological pressure and widening inequality within the education system.”
The union added that students are also concerned about the impact of grade 11 and 12 final exam scores on students' futures and “the insistence” on holding in-person exams under post-war conditions.
The demonstrations come six months after nationwide anti-government protests erupted across Iran. Authorities have since intensified a crackdown on those arrested during the unrest. Human rights groups say thousands of demonstrators were killed and more than 20,000 people were detained in the ensuing security campaign.
Students played a visible role in the protests, with demonstrations taking place at several universities across the country.
At the time, scuffles broke out with pro-regime supporters, some affiliated with the paramilitary Basij organization of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
The pressure on activists and protesters has continued in the months since. At least 30 protesters and political prisoners have been hanged in Iran since the six-week war with the US and Israel. Authorities have accused thousands of detainees of providing photos and videos of sensitive sites struck during the aerial bombing campaign to foreign adversaries.
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