A large group of Master’s and Ph.D. students from Islamic Azad University, with a notably strong presence of female students, staged a protest outside the university’s central headquarters in Tehran on 22 June. They opposed the authorities’ sudden decision to hold final examinations in person. In response to the growing demonstrations, university officials announced a 20 day postponement of the exams, although the requirement for in-person examinations remains unchanged. At the same time, groups of 11th and 12th grade schoolgirls gathered outside provincial education offices in Ilam, Khorramabad, and Shahrekord, demanding that their final examinations also be postponed.
Protesters criticised the compressed examination timetable, the short intervals between exams, and the policy linking grade point averages to university entrance examinations. They argued that these measures have deprived students of adequate preparation time and placed their academic futures at risk. The demonstrations reflect an expanding wave of student opposition to recent educational policies across Iran.