Amuda residents demand mother-tongue education

A number of residents of Amuda in the Jazira region protested on Sunday in front of the city’s Education Complex, demanding their children’s right to learn their Kurdish mother tongue. They called for the Syrian Ministry of Education’s decision to allocate only three classes per week to Kurdish language instruction to be amended and for the full curriculum to be taught in Kurdish.

Students’ families and community figures took part in the protest, with participants holding up banners expressing their commitment to their language and their children’s right to learn it.

Rejection of Education Ministry decision on Kurdish language

During the protest, Kurdish language teacher Arshak Barfi delivered a speech, saying that students’ parents and families in Amuda were protesting decisions taken by the Transitional Government regarding the Kurdish language and expressing their rejection of them. He stressed that three classes per week are insufficient to meet children’s right to learn their mother tongue.

For its part, the Education Complex administration welcomed the protesters. Administrator Hana Faisal Khaled said that the residents had come together in the spirit of peace, stressing respect for their demands and their right to advocate for their children’s rights.

She said the administration would convey the residents’ demands to the relevant authorities and officials to inform them of the situation on the ground and the community’s demands.

Calls for the curriculum to be taught in Kurdish

For his part, Sheikh Ammar al-Qadri, head of the Democratic Islamic Conference in Amuda, said they had prepared a list of demands from residents and students concerning the Kurdish language and the rights of Kurdish students, and submitted it to the city’s Education Complex.

The protest concluded with participants chanting slogans affirming their commitment to their language, including, “There is no life without language.”

Similar protests were held on Sunday in several cities across Hasakah province as the new school year began. Students called for the curriculum to be taught in Kurdish, expressing their rejection of the Education Ministry’s decision to allocate only three classes per week to Kurdish language instruction and stressing their right to learn in their mother tongue.

ANHA