Parents, students in Qamishlo call for developing Kurdish language education decision

Kurdish parents and students in Qamishlo, Jazira region, issued a statement to the public today regarding the Ministry of Education’s decision on teaching the Kurdish language.

The statement was read by Hanan Bakr in front of the district directorate building in Qamishlo, in the presence of representatives of Kurdish students and their parents. After the statement was read, a list of their demands was handed to Qamishlo District Director Jihan Hossam, who in turn promised to convey their demands to the relevant authorities in the transitional government.

The statement issued by the students and their parents said:

We have reviewed the ministerial decision issued on August 27, 2026, concerning amendments to the executive regulations of the Ministry of Education in Syria, particularly its recognition of Kurdish as a national language, its inclusion as a subject in public schools, and the inclusion of its grade in students’ overall final scores.

This step represents an important development in the process of officially recognizing the Kurdish language. However, we emphasize that, despite its importance, this recognition still requires legislative and educational development to ensure the effective and full exercise of linguistic rights.

The issue is not simply about adding Kurdish as a school subject. Rather, it concerns a linguistic, cultural and educational right linked to equality, non-discrimination and equal opportunities, as well as the right of children, pupils and students to learn their mother tongue and use it to acquire and express knowledge.

In this context, it is important to recall that the experience of education in Kurdish is neither new nor hypothetical. It has existed for nearly 14 years, during which educational institutions, teachers and students have accumulated practical experience in Kurdish-language education across various fields. The ministry should have built on this accumulated experience and viewed it as an educational foundation that could be utilized, developed and enriched within the Syrian education system, contributing to the quality and diversity of education.

However, much of what took place over the past years involved excluding this experience and marginalizing the expertise and qualifications developed in the field of Kurdish-language education, rather than benefiting from and building upon them. We believe the current stage offers a genuine opportunity to overcome this situation by recognizing these experiences and institutionally integrating them into the development of education in a way that serves students and Syrian society as a whole.

We believe there is a fundamental difference between teaching the Kurdish language and providing education in Kurdish. Having three Kurdish-language classes per week represents a first step, but it is not sufficient to make Kurdish a language of education and knowledge, nor should it constitute the final ceiling of this right.

We also emphasize that the right to language cannot be a geographic right tied to the presence of a ‘significant percentage’ of Kurdish citizens in a particular area. A mother tongue does not change with a person’s place of residence, and Kurdish students retain their right to learn their language wherever they live in Syria.

We particularly stress the need to take into consideration students and pupils who are currently enrolled in schools. The benefits of the new policy must not be limited to generations entering school in the future, while an entire generation has already spent years of education without a genuine opportunity to learn its mother tongue. Correcting the effects of linguistic deprivation must include current students through transitional and compensatory programs appropriate to their ages and educational levels.

We also emphasize that strengthening Kurdish does not mean excluding Arabic or diminishing its status. Rather, it means building a bilingual educational model that preserves students’ mother tongue while ensuring their proficiency in Arabic and openness to foreign languages, thereby strengthening equality, belonging and national unity.

We further emphasize that Kurdish-language education over the past years has produced thousands of teachers and educational workers from various scientific and educational fields who possess practical experience in teaching in Kurdish. These qualified individuals represent a national educational asset that should not be marginalized or excluded, but rather utilized in the development of education. It is necessary to open opportunities for these professionals to participate in building and developing the formal education system according to clear professional and academic standards, ensuring that accumulated expertise is utilized rather than wasted and contributing to the development of education in Syria as a whole.

Based on this, they called for the following:

1. Developing Ministerial Decision No. 943/68 so that it serves as a step toward guaranteeing education in Kurdish, rather than merely regulating the teaching of Kurdish as a school subject, and ensuring that this right is not tied to place of residence or a specific population percentage.

2. Guaranteeing the right of Kurdish students and pupils to learn their mother tongue throughout Syria.

3. Eliminating ambiguity in the criterion concerning areas with a significant percentage of Kurdish citizens and establishing clear and transparent standards that prevent discrimination among students based on their place of residence.

4. Adopting three weekly Kurdish-language classes, while emphasizing that this should not be considered the final limit for Kurdish-language education.

5. Establishing a clear timetable for gradually transitioning from teaching Kurdish to providing education in Kurdish across an increasing number of subjects, eventually reaching a bilingual education model at appropriate stages.

6. Ensuring that students and pupils currently enrolled in schools benefit from the new educational policy and that this right is not limited to future generations.

7. Introducing transitional and compensatory programs for students who were previously deprived of learning Kurdish, according to their ages, educational stages and language levels.

8. Utilizing existing educational expertise and experience in Kurdish-language education, particularly the thousands of teachers and educational workers from various fields, and opening opportunities for them to participate in the formal education system according to clear professional and academic standards, without exclusion or marginalization.

9. Preparing and developing curricula, textbooks, educational resources and digital materials in Kurdish, as well as developing the necessary scientific and academic terminology.

10. Integrating Kurdish culture, literature, history and heritage into national curricula in a scientific and balanced manner that reflects the cultural and historical diversity of Syrian society.

11. Ensuring the continued teaching and mastery of Arabic alongside Kurdish and adopting bilingual education as a means of promoting equal opportunities rather than favoring one language over another.

12. Creating higher-education pathways to train Kurdish-language teachers, researchers and specialists, while supporting scientific research and the production of academic knowledge and resources in Kurdish.

13. Ensuring that Kurdish does not become a marginal examination subject, but instead has a meaningful presence across different aspects of school and educational life.

14. Providing stable legal and legislative guarantees for the linguistic and educational rights of Kurdish citizens, so that these rights do not remain subject to administrative decisions that can be amended or revoked.

The statement also stressed that recognizing Kurdish represents an important step that can be built upon. However, genuine recognition is not measured simply by including Kurdish in the class schedule, but by students’ ability to use it for learning, expression and knowledge production.

It further emphasized that the nearly 14-year experience of Kurdish-language education, along with the accumulated expertise, curricula and educational personnel it has produced, should be treated as an educational asset that can be developed and utilized at the national level, rather than as an experience that should be bypassed or marginalized. The presence of thousands of teachers from different fields who have gained experience teaching in Kurdish also represents a genuine opportunity for the ministry to build a more inclusive and efficient educational model rather than starting from scratch.

The statement also stressed that linguistic rights are rights that must be exercised in the present, not promises deferred to the future, and that any corrective policy must include students and pupils currently enrolled in schools, alongside future generations.

Respecting linguistic and cultural diversity does not weaken national unity; rather, it strengthens it. True equality does not mean eliminating differences, but ensuring the rights of all citizens without discrimination.

A-H

ANHA