Feminist School: Recently the plan for native selection by gender has been discussed in the revolutionary council for culture as well as parliament’s education commission. According to this plan the examining board is to place girls at the universities in the region of where they live. After the plan was out in the open, some members of the parliament and those responsible seconded the plan and it was deliberated as a from of protection for girls and families.

We asked one of the girls whom the plan would apply to, Zahra M who states that "I have a high mark and I am unable to enter a university. I come under the area of Qom but Tehran is not covered as our region, Qazvin and the Central area is in our region, however it would suit me better to study in Tehran as my family members leave and I can even attend if permitted at university’s up North since I have close family in that region too and would feel safe and would find it easier to study but not in area’s where the board designates for me, hence this project has nothing to do with protection. I have chosen subjects and areas where I can study if I can not secure accommodation I don’t choose that place. I have the ability to ascertain where to study".

Vahedeh Khosh Sirat a specialist in education who explains "students who are intelligent and are well capable preparing for placements on their own are trying very hard to go for universities with higher standards or ratings and we can sometimes see if the students can not get in to the first class university they on purpose fail their exams so they can apply again next year hence all those students are concerned and hopeless with regards to the new plan as how they can motivate themselves".

Native selection by gender is an injustice to the families

It is interesting that one member of the parliament has called this plan a "present from the majlis (parliament) to the families of the girls". But in reality do the families hold the same view? Vahede Khosh Sirat who is in close contacts with students and their families states "Iranian families have a high priority for the education of their children and do their outmost so their children study the subjects in the best university. Even some parents who know about good school with high standards in other cities enrol their children in that city and are prepared to go through a lot of expense to get their children to the best universities possible, hence with so much attention this project is an injustice.

During the last years placement exams the same plan was implemented and brought a lot of criticism and objections from the students, Vahedeh Khosh Sirat explains that last year created confusion for both sexes and the plan created and caused the students to be limited with their choices and made the students with high rate of pass unable to study in the university of their choice and this also causes other problems such as lecturers and students move to other cities or a decline in the level of the university. Hence this plan causes discrimination towards the girls to be in two folds and goes on to say that "off course we have to carefully distinguish between native selection which is different to the plan of accepting students by their sexuality, at the same time native selection and the selection by sexuality has been applied at the same time, so it has left the activists on the education front in a difficult position. With implementing the selection by sexuality has damaged subject as medicine and relevant subjects, it is interesting to note that in the recent year mostly girls were interested in this subject and a lot of interest was shown in experimental subjects also by girls.

Native selection is to hide the selection by gender

Zahara M is one of the students that have been unable to get a place in the university as a result of Native selection and selection by sexuality and she states "I did not even get a place for the low applied subjects to study mathematics they have sexuality selection, I complained to the examining board. 65%Of the applicants are girls hence if the allocation is 50-50 it is an injustice. The Qom university has 4 subject modules which 3 of them were only accepting boys it was only computing which took on both sexes so in effect we are literally being denied from some subjects, Vahedeh Khosh Sirat explained that "this plan the selection by sexuality was implemented at the universities last year but sadly women activists did not pay enough attention". In fact with objection against this plan by women activists, the plan has been implemented by various ways hence with the native selection plan the selection by sexuality came to surface so "Native selection was in fact to hide the selection by sexuality, even though when placed together as a package the negative results created is greater".

Khosh Sirat goes on to say that the native selection plan has two great implications, all the first class students from the cities will be un able to study in high standard universities and hence the first implication is that the government because of the financial crisis is trying to reduce the burden and second student activists in the movement in Tehran and other big cities are from small cities so in effect this will cause the students not to be concentrated in Tehran and large cities which in turn will lessen the effect of the students movement. As for the selection by sexuality the first aim for the government is to decrease the work force which covers a percentage by women that would in time mean lack of education hence not employable and the second aim which could be the main one is as the regime sees women’s place at home and has the duty to be mother and hence an educated modern woman will fight for her rights which is not an acceptable thing by the regime.