Hasakah workshop discusses status of Kurdish language

The Kurdish Language Advocacy Committee held a dialogue workshop on Thursday at Meshwar Park in the Tel Hajar neighborhood of Hasakah to discuss the status of the Kurdish language, attended by a number of students, teachers and legal experts.

The workshop addressed Decree No. 13 issued by the Transitional Government. Legal expert Mohammed Amin Daoud Mamo explained its provisions, pointing to shortcomings; its failure to recognize Kurdish as an official language. However, he described the decree as a starting point that could serve as a basis for further steps under the constitution.

Nesrin Rashk, a member of the Relations Management Committee of the Teachers' Union, said that three weekly classes for Kurdish are insufficient.

She noted that students switching to studying their subjects in Arabic after having been educated in Kurdish could create an educational gap for them.

Nesrin stressed the need to guarantee students’ right to education in their mother tongue and to work toward changing racist and chauvinistic attitudes toward Kurds and their language.

During the discussion, several students who had recently enrolled in schools following the decision spoke about being subjected to harassment and assaults by some teachers and students after they chanted slogans calling for recognition of the Kurdish language. They called for those responsible to be held accountable and for exclusionary attitudes to be put to an end.

The workshop concluded with a set of recommendations, including opening dialogue with the Ministry of Education over decisions related to Kurdish-language education and involving teachers, students, parents and legal experts in drafting education and language policies and decisions.

The recommendations also called for reconsidering the number of Kurdish-language classes and forming a joint committee comprising representatives of the Ministry of Education, teachers, parents, students and relevant legal bodies specializing in multilingual education, while drawing on the experiences of multilingual countries.

The recommendations stressed guaranteeing students’ right to learn their mother tongue while preserving their right to learn Arabic and other languages, and adopting dialogue and negotiation as means of addressing educational disputes rather than resorting to unilateral decisions.

ANHA