Student Protests at Several Universities Against 'Monetization of Universities'

Groups of students at several universities in Tehran gathered on Student Day, December 7, to protest against the 'monetization of universities and the commodification of social life.' According to reports from the Meydan website and social media, these protests were held following a call from labor activists at Shahid Beheshti University, Allameh Tabatabai University, Kharazmi University, and the University of Tehran. Reports indicate that students chanted slogans such as 'Is this Ministry of Science's management or commerce?', 'With years and loans, we have become slaves to banks', 'The informed student stands with the worker', 'The government's management is oppression against women', 'Housing, work, and treatment, free education, the demands of the working class', and 'With threats and summons, we will not be silenced this time' to express their discontent with the 'current situation.' According to ISNA news agency, students at Kharazmi University protested against the tuition fees imposed on students exceeding their normal study duration. Based on a decision by the Ministry of Science, daily students whose study duration exceeds the usual period must pay tuition equivalent to that of second-round students each semester. Meanwhile, according to the Telegram channel of the Iranian Free Workers Union, a statement from 32 student councils of Iranian universities was read during these protests on the occasion of Student Day. In their statement, these councils criticized 'structural adjustment policies, disregard for the disastrous social consequences of these policies, privatization of economic enterprises, and the rising costs of social services.' The 32 student councils also condemned 'the suppression of labor organizations, governments' attempts to make workers more unstable, cheaper, and more obedient, excluding workshops with fewer than 10 employees from labor law, efforts to change labor law, and the internship plan for university graduates.' Previously, more than 460 economists and activists from various social fields had called for the immediate cancellation of this plan in a statement issued in August this year. According to Mehr news agency, they stated: 'With the implementation of such a plan, employers can easily dismiss temporary workers with unstable contracts and unclear insurance status and replace them with cheap interns.' The government of Hassan Rouhani has implemented the internship plan since July 1 of this year. The goal of this plan is stated as 'reducing unemployment rates and creating widespread employment,' under which university graduates are supposed to work as interns in production and service companies without the employer's obligation to hire them. According to this plan, the government pays each intern a stipend of 200,000 to 300,000 tomans and insurance costs for a period of 4 to 6 months. According to Rouhani's government officials, about 120,000 individuals are currently undergoing internships. Meanwhile, according to the authors of the statement from the 32 student councils of Iranian universities, in the health sector, the process of liberalizing the prices of medical services has progressed rapidly, and the health insurance plan has practically been sidelined. The public education sector was also mentioned in the statement of these student councils, criticizing the 'significant increase in non-profit schools and the commodification and exam-oriented nature of education.' They described 'the non-payment of teachers' real wages, the recruitment of unstable part-time teachers with very low wages, and the imprisonment of teacher union activists as an attack on public education and teachers.' Teacher unions have criticized government policies in education in recent years, demanding 'fair education,' improved educational standards, and better living conditions for teachers and retired educators. In another section of the student councils' statement, it was noted that Iranian governments have reduced their economic support for universities, stating: 'Students who have used facilities and loans are treated like bank debtors.' They pointed out that the successful implementation of these policies requires strong security and disciplinary levers. The summoning and threatening of labor activists by security agencies outside the university and the intensification of gender discrimination, both in university admissions and in the unfair regulations of women's dormitories, are among these disciplinary levers. Previously, there had also been criticisms of security and judicial actions against students. For example, in April of this year, 72 Islamic student associations reported the summoning of 50 student activists to judicial authorities and the suspension of seven Islamic associations. Prior to that, 92 student organizations, 813 student publication activists, and 8,000 student activists had separately written letters protesting the existence of a 'climate of intimidation and threats' and a 'security atmosphere' in universities, calling for the cancellation of student organizations' programs and 'illegal and extrajudicial interventions' in their organization. In this context, Hassan Rouhani, the President of Iran, on the evening of Saturday, December 2, at a ceremony commemorating Student Day at Sistan and Baluchestan University, considered criticism a right of students and told them: 'You should definitely criticize the government, as it costs less, and within the government, also criticize the president, as it costs much less.' He added: 'The atmosphere should not be such that when a student wants to speak, they have to be careful about whether someone is writing down their name or not.' The 32 student councils of Iranian universities also put forward demands in another section of their statement, including 'the cancellation of the internship plan for university graduates, increasing the capacities of daily courses, stopping the expansion of monetary capacities and dissolving international campuses, stopping the allocation of university spaces to private businesses and returning them to student organizations and associations, full coverage of services and government subsidies in the areas of nutrition, accommodation, and transportation for students, and the abolition of the years law and the removal of the budget allocation law for students based on years.' They also demanded 'the elimination of threats and security actions in response to student protests and demands, granting permission to establish independent student organizations from power factions, the full return of star-student and deprived students to universities, the abolition of gender and geographical discrimination in student admissions, ensuring equal rights to education for all ethnicities and followers of all religions and beliefs, and granting permission to form a national union of student councils to increase the intervention capacity of student councils and their coordination in addressing students' issues.' The issue of star-student status was mentioned in the statement, as the newspaper 'Jameh-Farda' reported on December 1 that at least 150 master's and doctoral students had been given star status in the current academic year. Nevertheless, Hassan Rouhani, at the Student Day ceremony at Sistan and Baluchestan University, stated: 'Stars belong in the sky, not in universities. Students come to universities to speak freely and express their opinions.' In this context, student activists criticized the security atmosphere; Rouhani: Criticism is the right of students.