Qamishlo, Girkê Legê call for expanded Kurdish education

The cities of Qamishlo and Girkê Legê witnessed events and protests today calling for amendments to the Ministry of Education’s decision on Kurdish-language instruction, which limits it to three classes per week. Participants also called for expanding Kurdish-language education and guaranteeing students’ right to learn in their mother tongue.

In Qamishlo, teachers and students issued a statement, read out by teacher Leyla Qawas, calling for amendments to Decree No. 13, which provides for three Kurdish-language classes per week, and for guaranteeing students’ right to study in their mother tongue.

The statement stressed that the Kurdish language is an integral part of the identity and culture of the Kurdish people, and that allocating three classes per week does not meet students’ needs for education in their mother tongue.

It called for amending the decision and allowing for the development of Kurdish-language curricula and their implementation in schools, thereby ensuring the continued teaching of the language and its transmission to future generations.

The statement concluded by calling on parents and students to stand by their right to education in Kurdish. Participants also chanted slogans including, “There is no life without language” and “Our language is our identity.”

In Girkê Legê and Rmeilan, students and their families continued their sit-in at a tent set up in front of Martyr Ahin School in Rmeilan, protesting the decision to reduce the number of Kurdish-language classes in schools.

The protesters called for curricula to be taught in Kurdish and for Kurdish-language education to continue at all levels of schooling. They reaffirmed their commitment to students’ right to learn in their mother tongue.

At the end of the sit-in, teacher Rozina Othman read out a statement on behalf of parents and students, calling on the Ministry of Education to teach curricula in Kurdish to Kurdish students and respect the distinct identity of the Kurdish community and its right to education in its mother tongue.

The statement called for Kurdish-language education to be provided from primary school through university, and for Kurdish to be recognized as an official language in Syria and allowed for use in Syrian institutions.

It reaffirmed the continued demand for the right to education in the mother tongue and called for the demands of students and their families to be addressed.

ANHA