High-school students demonstrated across roughly 20 Iranian provinces over final examinations and changes to the country’s university admissions system, according to Iran International. Some gatherings resulted in confrontations, injuries and at least one reported arrest as students pressed education authorities to revise the policies.
The protest movement began in western and central parts of Iran in late May. Its initial focus was the way final exams were being administered, but demands broadened to include the use of 11th-grade marks in the national university entrance process. Students wanted the fixed effect of those grades removed or converted into a rule under which the scores could only improve an applicant’s result.
Gatherings were reported in provinces including Tehran, Isfahan, West Azarbaijan, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, Razavi and North Khorasan, Khuzestan, Zanjan, Sistan and Baluchestan, Fars, Qazvin, Qom, Gilan, Lorestan, Mazandaran, Markazi and Yazd. The wide geographic distribution showed that objections were not confined to a single school system or city.
Reports described several incidents involving force. Students were injured in clashes during a demonstration in Yazd, while at least one participant was detained in Qom. In Saveh, protesters and employees of the local education department reportedly confronted one another. The source did not specify the number or severity of the Yazd injuries, identify the arrested person or describe any charges.
In Shahrekord, the capital of Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province, students joined the nationwide action on Saturday and called for education officials to answer their concerns. Video provided to Iran International showed another group outside the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution in Tehran protesting decisions about university entry requirements and linking their demands to fairness in education.
Earlier gatherings took place outside Lorestan’s education department in Khorramabad, where students requested clarity about exam arrangements. Similar actions in Arak and Isfahan objected to in-person testing and poor educational conditions. The week’s largest reported mobilisation in Tehran brought 11th- and 12th-grade pupils to the Ministry of Education to oppose the predetermined weight assigned to 11th-grade averages.
Students also sent messages to the outlet describing uncertainty created by repeated policy changes and the psychological pressure associated with shifting exam and admissions rules. No official national response was included in the report. The demonstrations therefore established a broad and continuing student challenge, while the government’s intended handling of the contested grading policy remained unclear. The protesters’ messages linked the technical dispute over grade weighting to broader questions of predictability and equal treatment, arguing that decisions made during secondary school could directly shape access to higher education.
