The Share of Public Schools Among Top University Entrance Exam Performers is Only 'Seven Percent'

Results from Iran's national university entrance exam across three testing groups show that only 'two out of the top 30 performers' in this exam studied in public schools, which accounts for about 'seven percent' of these candidates. The Farhikhtegan newspaper reported on Saturday, September 1, highlighting the 'poor quality of public schools' in recent years, stating that when including semi-public schools, the share of public schools among this year's top performers only reaches 'ten percent'. In contrast, the newspaper noted that students from gifted and talented schools, known as Samapad, account for '73 percent' of the top performers in the three testing groups of the exam. According to this report, there is 'not even one student from non-Samapad schools' among the top performers in the experimental sciences group. Samapad schools, supervised by the National Organization for the Development of Exceptional Talents, teach 'gifted students with high IQs' and their costs include 50 percent of the tuition fees of non-profit schools in the student's city. In June of this year, Ahmad Mahmoudzadeh, Deputy Minister of Education, stated that 'nearly 40 percent of school tuition fees in the country are estimated to be between 10 to 20 million tomans, and about 34 percent of school fees are set between 20 to 30 million tomans.' The Farhikhtegan newspaper also referred to the over 27 percent share of Tehran residents in this year's exam, noting that the provinces of Khorasan with 15 percent, and East Azerbaijan and Isfahan with over seven percent follow. Additionally, the top performers are only from 15 provinces, while 16 other provinces, including Sistan and Baluchestan, Kurdistan, Khuzestan, Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad, Lorestan, Ardabil, and Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, have no representation. On the other hand, the share of female candidates among the top performers is 32.5 percent compared to 67.5 percent for males. The average GPA of Iranian high school seniors was reported as '10.89'. The discussion of the poor quality of public schools, alongside the issue of cheating in university entrance exams in recent years, has been accompanied by much controversy. Many critics of the entrance exam have criticized the manner of conducting this exam, which violates the rights of many candidates, especially since the majority of Iranian students study in public schools. In this context, the head of the Measurement and Evaluation Center of the Ministry of Education said on August 22 of this year that the average GPA for the three fields of experimental sciences, mathematics, and humanities in the twelfth grade, the last year of high school, is '10.89'. While Mohsen Zarei assessed this year's high school students' scores in Iran as 'acceptable', some journalists and teacher union activists have attributed these scores to weaknesses in the 'policy-making' of this ministry.