TEHRAN – Iran’s national university entrance exam (Konkur) started on Wednesday under health protocols amid the COVID-19 pandemic and will run through August 22.

The exam will be attended by 1,393,233 candidates, which shows an increase of 274,440 compared to last year.

Konkur includes three main groups of mathematical sciences, experimental sciences, and human sciences along with two other groups of art and foreign languages.

Due to the special conditions caused by the outbreak, seven thousand environmental health experts are monitoring the exam process.

The exam is being held at 10 mosallas (large mosques) and 48 stadiums across the country.

All participants and invigilators must wear face masks and receive a hygiene package including a mask, alcohol pad, and hygiene gel.

Large halls have been selected with a suitable capacity and the seats are arranged with an approved physical distance of 180 cm from each other. Meanwhile, the venues and all equipment are disinfected.

Some 61 candidates of the national university entrance exam are infected with the virus that will take the exam at hospitals approved by the Ministry of Health.

The oldest candidate is 83 years old and the youngest is aging 15.

In this year's national exam, 58.28 percent of the total candidates are female and 41.72 percent are male.

Konkur is held annually in June or July in Iran and in some other countries as well, however, this year due to the pandemic, it was postponed till August. Every year the participants sit for the multiple-choice exam to vie to get the best results possible as the seats at tuition-free public universities are limited. Based on the figures only 20 percent of the students would manage to win the seats at top charge-free public universities.

FB/MG