Confirmation of Suspension of the Head of the National Educational Assessment Organization

Iranian media reported the confirmation of the suspension of the head of the National Educational Assessment Organization, Abdolrasool Pourabbas. The Administrative Justice Court issued a ruling for his suspension due to 'failure to execute the temporary reinstatement order for a number of questionable entrance exam candidates.' The dispute between the National Educational Assessment Organization and the Administrative Justice Court has intensified in recent days. Previously, the organization accused the plaintiffs in a letter to the Administrative Justice Court of providing 'false information to the judge,' stating, 'They claimed to be students while, according to the rulings of the primary and appellate boards reviewing entrance exam violations, they have been expelled from university and are no longer students.' The head of the National Educational Assessment Organization also commented on reports from some media regarding his suspension, stating, 'Unfortunately, such a ruling has been issued.' As of the time of this report, no further details regarding this ruling, the plaintiffs, or the text of the issued ruling have been published. Yesterday, a member of the Islamic Consultative Assembly reported on the government's 'quiet' efforts to separate the National Educational Assessment Organization from the Ministry of Science and attach it to the Presidential Office, deeming it 'dangerous and likely to create suspicions of corruption' within the organization. Zabihollah Azimi Sardoui emphasized that implementing this idea would effectively remove parliamentary oversight over the National Educational Assessment Organization and that this 'chart change' would be the biggest blow to the Ministry of Science. He stated that with this organization being attached to the Presidential Office, the Minister of Science and the head of the National Educational Assessment Organization would never be accountable to representatives. The issue of conducting the entrance exam and the mafia surrounding it has always been newsworthy, with annual criticisms regarding the conduct of the exam, including widespread cheating, 'leaking of questions,' and the generation of profits in the thousands of billions of tomans from entrance exam businesses being among the reported issues.