Kurdish-Language education in Syria: Student demands and global experiences

Student and community protests continue in Kurdish areas of Syria, calling for the expansion of Kurdish-language education and rejecting its restriction to three lessons per week. The protests follow a decision issued by the Ministry of Education in Syria’s transitional government on August 27.

The decision allows Kurdish to be taught in public and private schools in areas where Kurds make up a significant proportion of the population. It also includes Kurdish in the curriculum and counts its grade toward students’ final overall scores, alongside Arabic and English.

Current demands include ensuring the continuation of mother-tongue education and expanding the use of Kurdish in academic subjects, moving toward a bilingual education model while maintaining the teaching of other languages.

The demands are based on the view that language is part of the learning and integration process and contributes to preserving cultural diversity. International experiences indicate that providing education in the mother tongue alongside other languages can improve understanding, participation, and academic achievement, while strengthening the presence of local languages and supporting their transmission across generations.

Mother-Tongue Education

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) places multilingual education among educational policies related to linguistic diversity and emphasizes the importance of recognizing learners’ languages and integrating them into the educational process.

Article 5 of UNESCO’s 1960 Convention against Discrimination in Education recognizes the right of members of national minorities to carry out their own educational activities, including “the use or the teaching of their own language,” while taking into account the state’s educational policy and learners’ right to acquire the language of the wider community.

In its recent global guidance on multilingual education, UNESCO emphasizes that providing education in languages that learners understand, particularly their mother tongue, can improve learning and promote inclusion and participation, while also preserving linguistic and cultural diversity.

The organization also notes that mother-tongue-based education, particularly in the early stages, helps learners benefit more effectively from the educational process and facilitates a more effective transition to learning other languages.

In this context, UNESCO highlights international models that have adopted multilingual or mother-tongue-based education within their education systems. These include Nepal and the Philippines, where learners’ languages have been incorporated into the educational process alongside other languages.

These approaches are consistent with the principle that multilingualism within society can be reflected in education by combining the preservation of the mother tongue with the acquisition of languages needed for education and public life.

International Models of Multilingual Education

The models adopted by different countries vary according to their demographic, constitutional, and administrative structures. However, a number of countries use more than one language in education, either at the national level or depending on the region.

In Switzerland, the country has four national languages: German, French, Italian, and Romansh. The use of these languages is regulated through the federal system and the cantons. In Romansh-speaking areas, some schools use Romansh as the primary language of instruction during the early years, with a transition to German at later stages or the adoption of bilingual models.

This system allows local languages to maintain a presence in education alongside languages that are more widely used.

In Belgium, the education system is based on the country’s linguistic division. Educational institutions are linked to the Flemish, French, and German-speaking communities, with each community’s language used in education and cultural administration, while all three languages have official status.

In Spain, alongside Spanish as the country’s official language, Catalan, Basque, and Galician have official status in their respective regions. These languages are used in education, administration, and public life in accordance with each region’s legal framework.

In Canada, English and French are official languages at the federal level. French has a strong presence in education, administration, and public life in the province of Quebec, alongside educational systems and programs in other languages in different parts of the country.

South Africa has a system that recognizes 11 official languages and guarantees multiple linguistic rights in education and public life, with multilingual education models varying according to educational stages and regions.

In Iraq, Arabic and Kurdish are official languages at the federal level. The Kurdistan Regional Government uses Kurdish extensively in education, administration, and public institutions, alongside Arabic and foreign languages.

These experiences show that recognition of multilingualism does not follow a single model. It can take the form of official languages at the state level, regional languages in specific areas, or bilingual and multilingual education systems.

Language, Education and Society

Reports by United Nations organizations indicate that using learners’ language in education affects more than language learning itself and can also influence comprehension and overall learning outcomes.

UNESCO explains that children who receive mother-tongue-based education can benefit more fully from the educational process. It also notes that this type of education can be particularly beneficial for some groups that may face greater difficulties when they are introduced at an early age to a language of instruction that is not spoken at home.

The organization also links multilingual education to promoting inclusion and participation and facilitating the transmission of knowledge across generations. It considers recognition of the languages present in society to be part of building education systems better equipped to address diversity.

In the Syrian context, the current debate raises the question of how education should be organized in a multilingual society so that students can maintain their mother tongue while also learning Arabic, English, and other languages they need for higher education and public life.

Teachers and students in Kurdish areas are calling for a model that would allow a gradual transition from teaching Kurdish as a subject to using it as a language of instruction, while continuing to teach Arabic and other languages. This is among the demands presented by teachers during ongoing protest rallies.

As protests and calls to amend the decision continue, Syria’s emerging education system faces a range of international experiences in organizing education in multilingual societies, from bilingual education to models that grant local languages official or regional status in schools and institutions.

How linguistic diversity will be organized in Syria will ultimately depend on education policies, legislation, and implementation mechanisms, as well as the education system’s ability to ensure that students learn their mother tongue while also gaining proficiency in Arabic and other languages. This would enable students to continue their education while preserving the country’s linguistic diversity.

a.k

ANHA