Residents and students in Garkê Legê and Tel Koçer demand Kurdish as official language

Reactions rejecting the decision by the Ministry of Education in Syria’s transitional government to reduce Kurdish-language instruction to three classes per week continue to grow.

Wani Mohammed, a mother of four from the village of Sikra in the Garkê Legê area, told our agency that her children are facing difficulties learning Arabic because they have studied in Kurdish for many years. She stressed her commitment to educating her children in their mother tongue.

“We do not want our children to study in any language other than Kurdish. It is their mother tongue. They have studied in Kurdish for 12 years, and we do not want all that effort to go to waste,” she said.

Wani called on the transitional government to listen to residents’ demands and amend its decision, saying that Kurdish should be recognized as an official language in Syria. She also rejected the reduction of Kurdish-language classes to three per week.

Meanwhile, 13-year-old Helen Omar, a seventh-grade student from Sikra, said she had studied in Kurdish since first grade, stressing her attachment to her mother tongue and her right as a student to continue her education in it.

Helen explained that switching to Arabic-language education would pose a major challenge for her and her classmates, as they have been accustomed to studying in Kurdish since first grade.

“We do not want to study in Arabic because it is difficult for us. We have studied in Kurdish, and we want to continue in our mother tongue until we reach university and achieve our goals. This is our right,” she said.

She called for Kurdish to be recognized as an official language and for the Ministry of Education’s decision to reduce Kurdish-language instruction to three classes per week to be amended.

For her part, 14-year-old eighth-grade student Sitera Jankir rejected the Ministry of Education’s decision, stressing students’ commitment to their right to study in Kurdish.

Sitera said students had studied in Kurdish since the early grades because it is their language and the language of their ancestors. She called on the transitional government to listen to their voices and respond to their demands.

“We are against this decision and want to study in our Kurdish language,” she said.

Sixth-grade student Shirin Jankir said Kurdish is the language students have become accustomed to studying in, stressing her rejection of the reduction of Kurdish-language classes to three per week.

“We study in Kurdish because we do not know Arabic and it is difficult for us, and we do not want our future to be ruined. Three classes are far too few,” she said.

She stressed that students remain committed to continuing their education in Kurdish, adding: “We all want to study in our language, and our voices must be heard.”

In the town of Tel Koçer, Kurdish students and their families in the Alyan area also rejected the decision by the Ministry of Education in the transitional government. Primary and middle school students in the town of Kishk, in the Tel Koçer countryside, issued a statement rejecting the ministry’s decision to reduce Kurdish-language classes to only three per week.

In their statement, the students and their families stressed that language is not merely a school subject limited to a certain number of hours, but rather the essence of their history, culture and collective memory.

In this context, student Nirkiz Sulo said the Kurdish language is a fundamental pillar of their cultural identity and that their right to study in Kurdish must be guaranteed as part of the educational process, rather than being confined to a limited number of classes.

Nirkiz added that if the Ministry of Education does not respond to their demands, they will continue protesting until their demands are met, namely their right to learn in their mother tongue.

Student Firoza Suleiman, meanwhile, expressed her refusal to attend school if the decision remains in its current form. She called for their right to learn in their mother tongue and express themselves through it to be guaranteed, alongside other languages.

Firoza continued: “We should regularly study in Kurdish. Education in our mother tongue helps us understand and develop our reading and writing skills, while learning other languages gives us broader knowledge.”

Mahdi Hussein, a parent, said they reject the Ministry of Education’s decision to allocate only three weekly classes to learning in Kurdish at schools.

“This decision wrongs the Kurdish language and our students, who have studied in it for the past 14 years. Therefore, we cannot accept the further marginalization of our language,” he said.

“The Kurdish people have long suffered from the marginalization of their language in education. Today, we must seize the opportunity to strengthen cultural and linguistic diversity in Syria instead of imposing new restrictions on Kurdish-language education,” he added.

He concluded by calling on the Ministry of Education and the transitional government to cancel the decision, stressing their commitment to the right to education in their mother tongue and describing it as a natural right that should not be restricted by unfair conditions or decisions.

Hassan Shehab said: “The decision to teach Kurdish for three classes per week is unacceptable. Our rejection of it and our demand for mother-tongue education do not seek to eliminate any other language. Rather, they seek to guarantee our children and future generations the right to study their language alongside other languages.”

Hassan called on the Ministry of Education to review the decision and establish a framework that ensures fair Kurdish-language education in a manner befitting its status. He stressed that including Kurdish in the education system is a necessary step toward building an educational system that reflects the diversity of Syrian society.

a.k

ANHA

Çilaxa

Girke Legê