July 19 Revolution and education in mother tongue

 Since the emergence of modern Syria, and naming it the Syrian Arab Republic in 1961, and its adoption of an Arab state with the concept of a central republic, and consisting of 14 governorates, its capital and largest city is Damascus, it has imposed education in one language on all the Syrian people, in an attempt to erase the identity of the rest of the components.

 Language is the identity and culture of peoples, and it is the means of communication between peoples, and the demise of any language means the people who speak that language.  Kurdistan second.

The co-chair of the coordinators of the universities of North and East Syria, Rohan Mustafa, explained to our agency, "The Baath regime followed a systematic policy against the components of the region, which is the policy of one culture, one language and one history."

 The importance of a mother tongue

 Leader Abdullah Ocalan says in his fifth plea, entitled (Democratic Civilization), in the chapter on the idiomatic and theoretical framework around language, “Language in itself means the societal legacy of mentality, morals, aesthetics, emotions and ideas acquired by a society. It is the existence of identity and the moment that is perceived and expressed in relation to meaning and emotion.  And a society that expresses itself, and indicates that it has a strong argument for life, and that the level of language sophistication is the level of life's progress.

 In a most dangerous step at the level of the Kurdish language, the Damascus government, following the March 12 uprising, followed a policy known as the policy of empowering the Arabic language in the Kurdish regions, by forcing the people of Rojava to learn Arabic,  leading to opening so-called literacy courses for the elderly in villages, towns and districts and forcing people to join them.

With the outbreak of the July 19, 2012 revolution, known the language revolution;  In view of the great attention paid by the Kurdish people to their mother tongue, the Kurdish language, schools were opened to teach the Kurdish language in the homes of citizens, and the first of these schools was in the village of Daraklia in Afrin canton in 2012, and then in Kobani and the Jazira region.  The mechanism of teaching the Kurdish language within schools has developed. In the 2012/2013 academic year, the Kurdish language was taught ar schools, and in the 2013/2014 school year it was considered one of the official languages ​​of education within schools in Al-Jazia region, Kobani and Afrin cantons, and after the announcement of the establishment of the Autonomous Administration  In 2014, curricula for the first and second grades were issued in the Kurdish language for the 2014/2015 academic year, and in the 2015/2016 academic year, curricula from the first to sixth grades were taught in the Kurdish language. Now, all curricula are taught in the regions of Rojava, northern and eastern Syria, in the mother tongue.  That is, the Kurdish learns in his mother tongue, the Arabic in his mother tongue and Syriac in his mother tongue.

Mustafa explained, "With the start of the revolution, and the announcement of the establishment of the Autonomous Administration, which is based on the democratic nation's philosophy that embraces all components, ethnicities and nationalities, the way was opened for all components to learn in their mother tongue, including the Kurds who made great strides in the field of learning in their mother tongue, the language  Kurdish.

She indicated that "the Kurdish Language Foundation has taken upon itself to teach and teach the Kurdish language among all members of society, and then teaching in schools, all the way to universities. All components in north and east Syria have started learning in their mother tongue, and this stems from the spirit of the concept adopted by the people of the region.

Consolidating the concept of education in the mother tongue

Mustafa confirmed that the process of teaching in the mother tongue was not easy, but accompanied by many difficulties.  Kurdish is not according to academic foundations.

 She explained that the educational staff in north and east Syria made great efforts to develop the reality of education, and was able to establish the concept of education in the mother tongue, and she noted, "Other difficulties that we faced, were the lack of special sources for education in the Kurdish language, so it required a deep research in this field."

 There are now 4,459 schools in all regions of north and east Syria, attended by 8,60,728 male and female students, and the number of teachers within these schools is 42,187.  In addition, there are 5 institutes for preparing teachers, and an institution for preparing curricula in all languages, Arabic, Kurdish and Syriac.

 In order to develop the educational reality, advance society and achieve the necessary developments in northern and eastern Syria, the first university was opened in the city of Qamishlo in 2016, which is Rojava University, and then two universities were opened in the cantons of Afrin and Kobani, and then the University of the East in Raqqa.

 A member of the Coordinator of the Universities of North and East Syria, Rohan Mustafa, explained in a statement to our agency, "The coordinator contacted a group of Kurdish academics and friends of the Kurds under the name "Peace Academics", who provided an integrated program for coordination and cooperation in various fields, such as scientific research, securing books and workshops.  It also participated in international workshops, such as a workshop entitled "The Danger in Social Sciences", in which academics from the United States, France, Brazil, South Africa and others participated, and the "Protecting the World Heritage" conference, which was held under the auspices of Al-Mustansiriya University in Iraq, in which the university participated.  In search of the olive tree as a cultural heritage for the afflicted region of Afrin.

Rohan Mustafa indicated that "the last of these projects was the support campaign launched by the university on July 19, 2021, which attracted nearly 100 international academic personalities from various disciplines, and from all over the world (Australia, Brazil, Italy, France, Britain, Canada, Albania and others). They offered support  And support for their institutions in various fields, some of them accepting to join as honorary members of the university’s academic body, donating lectures, supervising master’s and doctoral theses, securing books, and providing financial aid.

 Rohan Mustafa indicated that "the Center for Cooperation and Solidarity with the Universities of North and East Syria was established by a group of academics from different specializations from all over the world in the French city of Paris, with the aim of supporting the universities of North and East Syria and promoting educational and research programs." She said: "Where meetings are held  With the administrators of this center to develop a work program for this center and secure a number of academic cadres for postgraduate studies, in addition to organizing a series of annual lectures delivered by well-known academic figures such as Professor Noam Gomsky, John Holloway and Slavoj Zizek.

 Teaching in the mother tongue contributes to building a free personality

 Rohan Mustafa stressed that education in the mother tongue has a great impact on societies and their development, and said: "If there is a good educational system that is accepted by the general population of the region, and contributes to the advancement of society and the consolidation of the concept of acceptance of the other, this contributes to the application of the concept of the democratic nation, and building  Free Personal.

 Rohan Mustafa explained, "Their main goal is to build a free and constructive personality," and noted, "The education system in northern and eastern Syria is completely different from the education system within totalitarian regimes. Totalitarian regimes seek to build an individual who employs his full energy in the service of those regimes and serves their interests, while the education system  In the north and east of Syria, it aims to build an individual with a free personality, who contributes to building a free and democratic society, who has the ability to solve outstanding problems in society, and puts all his energy and knowledge for the advancement and development of society.

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 ANHA