Thousands of high school students in about 20 provinces across Iran held protests against education policy, final exam rules and changes affecting the national university entrance exam. In some provinces, the protests escalated into actual clashes with security forces, resulting in injuries and arrests. The protests, which began in late May in western and central Iran, initially focused on how final exams are conducted. Later, they evolved into a broader demand to cancel the permanent impact of grade 11 GPA on the national university entrance exam, or at least change it to only have a positive effect.