Nine female students barred from pursuing higher education

Nine female students were deprived of pursuing higher education due to their faith.

Taranom Motamedi Borujeni, a resident of Shahin Shahr in Isfahan, Shamim Idelkhani, from Moghan in Ardebil, Farnia Iliazadeh, Sarvin Azarshab, Shahrzad Tirgar, and Melina Ghavami Nik, from Tehran, Parmida Hossein Pooli Mameghani, Parand Misaghi and Shaghayegh Ghasemi, are the nine female students who have been deprived from pursuing higher education due to their Baha’i conviction.

They had participated in and passed the national university entrance examination, some with outstanding results, but when checking in for their computer records, they received a message stating “deficient records” in the Evaluation Organization (Sanjesh).

“Deficient records” is an option used to block Baha’I students’ access to their computer records and inform them of being barred from continuing their higher education. This has become a common practice since 2006 and numerous students with Baha’i faith have faced this option in the results of the current year’s examinations.

The clerical regime in Iran has deprived Baha’i citizens including a significant number of Baha’i female students from university education, in addition to depriving them of employment in public places. This includes even those students who are on the verge of graduation.

Baha’is are deprived of education in Iranian universities based on paragraph 3 of the bill ratified by the Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution on February 25, 1991, which has also been endorsed by the mullahs’ supreme leader Ali Khamenei, “Once it is confirmed that a student adheres to Baha’ism, whether at the time of admission or during their studies, she or he must be deprived of education.”

UN human rights reporters have repeatedly objected against the regime’s anti-Baha’i behavior and, in particular, the depriving of Baha’is from their right to education, recognizing it as a clear indication of Iran’s neglect of human rights treaties.