Jannidi: Rouhani's Order to the Minister of Science Regarding Starred Students is Explicit

Hassan Rouhani's legal assistant states that the President's order to the Minister of Science regarding the situation of starred students is "explicit and clear," and that Mansour Gholami will "definitely" address this issue. Laya Jannidi made this statement on Friday, December 22, during an interview with ILNA news agency. Referring to Rouhani's recent remarks that "there should be no starred students," she identified the Ministry of Science and Information Technology as the "audience" of these comments. She added that "the President has instructed the Minister of Science in this regard, and I doubt that the Ministry of Science will not follow up on the situation of these students." In response to the question of whether these students can expect help from the legal assistant's office if the Ministry of Science does not pursue their cases, she stated that starred students can "request an inquiry from the legal assistant's office." According to her, the legal assistant's office will provide a response based on legal review to determine whether there is a basis for this action. Jannidi emphasized that "the President's order has been explicit and clear, and Mr. Gholami will definitely follow up, and we will all cooperate with him." Jannidi's remarks that the Minister of Science will "definitely" pursue the cases of starred students come at a time when Mansour Gholami recently stated that there are no "political" starred students in Iran and that the problem for "most" of these students is "file deficiencies." The Minister of Science, Research, and Technology claimed on Saturday, December 16, in an interview with the House of the People that among starred students, "there are no individuals with political problems or political tendencies and actions, as political issues are not considered in student selection." He added that the term "starred" does not exist among students and applicants for higher education as it is perceived by public opinion... the problem for most of these students is file deficiencies. Gholami's statements that there are no political starred students in Iran come despite the fact that this term has been used since 2006 during Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's presidency for students who are often barred from continuing their education due to political and ideological activities. While the Minister of Science of Rouhani's government spoke of the existence of a "small number" of starred students, ILNA reported on December 7, citing Masoumeh Ebtekar, the Vice President for Women and Family Affairs, expressing concern about the "starred status and restrictions on the continuation of education for some students." Mahmoud Sadeghi, a representative from Tehran in the Islamic Consultative Assembly, stated on December 19 that this year, 12 doctoral students and 15 master's students have been "failed" and "are not allowed to continue their studies." The newspaper "Jameh Farda" also reported on December 9 that at least 150 master's and doctoral students were starred in October of this year, stating that they faced "file deficiency messages" and were barred from entering universities. This is while Hassan Rouhani promised during the 2013 election campaign to eliminate the starred status of students, reinstate them, and open up university spaces. The return of some of these students to universities, as mentioned by Jameh Farda, has occurred with the signing of "commitment letters."