Iranian students protest entered a new phase on Monday, June 22, 2026, as various cities across captive Iran witnessed rallies by high schoolers and university students. Brave schoolgirls and youth took to the streets to demonstrate against the clerical regime’s anti-cultural, discriminatory policies and abrupt academic decisions. Concurrently, employees of the Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences held demonstrations to protest their dire livelihood conditions.
Graduate Students Rally Outside Azad University Central Headquarters
A large group of Master’s and Ph.D. students from Islamic Azad University—with a remarkably prominent presence of female students—staged a major rally outside the university’s central headquarters in Tehran on June 22. They fiercely protested the regime’s sudden and arbitrary decision to hold final exams in person.
In response to the growing outrage, university officials were forced to make a temporary retreat, announcing a 20-day postponement of the exams. However, the core directive to hold the exams in person remains unrevoked. Rejecting these deceptive maneuvers, the protesting students emphasized that if the decree is not completely overturned, they will resume their protest rally outside the central headquarters tomorrow.
High Schoolers Strike in Ilam, Khorramabad, and Shahrekord over Compressed Academic Calendar
Simultaneously with the university students, a large number of 11th and 12th-grade schoolgirls in the cities of Ilam, Khorramabad, and Shahrekord staged brave rallies outside the regime’s provincial departments of education, demanding a postponement of the final exams.
The protesting students, particularly the schoolgirls on the front lines of these rallies, strongly objected to the overly compressed exam schedule and the short intervals between tests, calling for a rescheduling and postponement until after the upcoming official public holidays. They emphasized that the unjustified compression of the exam timetable, combined with the oppressive policy of “mandatory GPA impact on university entrance exams (Konkur),” has stripped them of proper preparation and gravely endangered their academic future.
This is not the first time students have revolted against the educational authorities’ mandates; cities including Tehran, Shahrekord, and Khorramabad have previously witnessed student protests these schemes. The current trend demonstrates that this ongoing Iranian students protest over exam formats and abrupt state decrees has now become a unified, shared grievance among high school and university students alike.
Ongoing Livelihood Protests: Medical University Staff Rally in Kermanshah
The continuous livelihood crisis and protests over meager wages have extended the scope of demonstrations to employees in other sectors.
In this regard, on June 21, 2026, employees of the Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences gathered for the consecutive time in a major protest rally outside the regime’s provincial governorate. Chanting slogans, the protesters condemned the nominal 20-percent salary increase, describing it as entirely negligible, unjust, and an insult to workers’ livelihoods in the face of runaway inflation and dire economic conditions.
