Students in Jazira continue to demand Kurdish language education for 2nd consecutive day

With the start of the new academic year in Syria on Sunday, student protests have continued for the second consecutive day in numerous schools across the Jazira region, demanding that the curriculum be taught in Kurdish.

Qamishlo

In this context, several schools in Qamishlo also witnessed student protests today against the Syrian Ministry of Education’s decision to allocate three classes per week to the Kurdish language. The students called for Kurdish to be adopted as an official language in government schools alongside Arabic.

During the protests, students raised banners bearing slogans including, “May the Kurdish language always remain alive,” “We only want our right,” and “Our language is not an additional subject.” They called for Kurdish to be adopted as a primary language alongside Arabic, stressing that education in their mother tongue, Kurdish, is a fundamental right for students.

The protests in Qamishlo come as part of calls to amend Syrian Ministry of Education Decision No. 964/2068, which allocates three weekly classes to teaching the Kurdish language. The students stressed that Kurdish is not an additional subject and that their demand to learn in Kurdish is a natural right.

Tel Tamr

Adnan Al-Maliki School in Tel Tamr also witnessed a student sit-in today, during which students chanted slogans rejecting the restriction of Kurdish-language instruction to three classes per week. They stressed that the language represents an essential part of the identity and culture of the region’s people and that teaching it requires greater space within the educational curriculum.

The protesting students stressed that their demand is not limited to increasing the number of classes, but rather to ensuring their right to learn their mother tongue more broadly, preserving its presence in education and strengthening linguistic and cultural diversity in the country.

In recent days, Tel Tamr also witnessed a demonstration attended by residents and community representatives, rejecting the restriction of Kurdish-language instruction to three classes per week and calling for Kurdish to be adopted as a primary language in educational institutions alongside Arabic.

Çil Agha

In Çil Agha, students at the school in the village of Kherbi Jhewa, in the Alian area of the Jal Agha countryside, organized a protest in the schoolyard, demanding that the curriculum be taught in Kurdish.

The new 2026–2027 academic year began across Syria on Sunday, alongside student protests in the majority of schools in the Jazira region, as well as in Kobani.

To express their demands for education in Kurdish, students organized protest sit-ins and raised banners calling for their rights. They also expressed their position by refusing to enter classrooms, emphasizing their right to learn in their mother tongue.

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