DUSHANBE, November 13, 2012, Asia-Plus  -- Seventy-five Tajik students will leave for Iran before the end of November for studying.

Abdusattor Odinayev, an official at the Ministry of Education (MoE), says the academic year starts in Iran in December and Iran has allotted a quota of 250 students to Tajikistan this year.

“However, only 100 students have lodged applications for studying in Iran,” said Odinayev, “Of them, 19 persons have given up their plans to study in Iran and applications of six candidates have been refused.”

According to the statistical data from a MoE, some 200 Tajik students are currently studying in Iranian universities.  In 2011, Iran reportedly increased the student quota for Tajikistan five times -- from 50 to 250 students.