Teachers in Hasaka demand guaranteed Kurdish language education

Dozens of teachers in the city of Hasaka held a protest today in front of the city's Education Directorate building. They were protesting a decision issued by the transitional government on August 27, 2026, regarding amendments to the executive regulations of the Syrian Ministry of Education—specifically the provision recognizing the Kurdish language as a national language.

Participants held banners reading: "Our language is our culture," "No life without language," "The Kurdish language is our identity—recognize it," and "Mother-tongue education is our right." They also chanted slogans such as: "No life without our language," "The Kurdish language is our dignity," "The Kurdish language is our existence," and "The Kurdish language is our identity."

The protest included the reading of a statement in both Kurdish and Arabic by Jinda Ahmed, an administrator at the Teacher Training Institute, and teacher Nisrin Rashk. The statement reads as follows:

"We have reviewed the ministerial decision issued on August 27, 2026, regarding amendments to the executive regulations of the Syrian Ministry of Education. We particularly note the provisions recognizing the Kurdish language as a national language, permitting its instruction in public schools, and including its grades in the final academic total.

This move represents a significant development in the recognition of linguistic rights, and we view it as a positive step toward the actual and full exercise of this right. While this recognition is important, we emphasize that the issue goes beyond merely adding Kurdish as a school subject; it concerns a fundamental linguistic and cultural right rooted in equality, non-discrimination, and equal opportunity, as well as the right of children and students to learn their mother tongue and use it to acquire and express knowledge."

Recognizing the Kurdish language as a national language is a significant step; however, fully guaranteeing linguistic rights requires making education in Kurdish available—alongside the development of necessary curricula and teaching staff—to ensure this right is exercised effectively and sustainably.

In this context, it is important to note that the experience of education in Kurdish is neither new nor hypothetical; it has been ongoing for approximately fourteen years, spanning various educational stages and disciplines. Over these years, educational institutions, teachers, and students have accumulated practical expertise, curricula, and field experience in Kurdish-language education. Consequently, this experience should be viewed as an educational foundation that can be utilized, developed, and enriched within the national education system.

However, much of what has occurred in recent years has involved the exclusion of this experience and the marginalization of the expertise and competencies developed in the field of Kurdish-language education, rather than leveraging or building upon them. We believe the current phase offers a genuine opportunity to move beyond this reality by recognizing these experiences and institutionally integrating them into the development of the educational process, thereby serving both students and Syrian society as a whole.

We also recognize a fundamental distinction between teaching the Kurdish language and providing education in the Kurdish language. While including Kurdish as a subject with three weekly lessons is a first step, it is insufficient to transform it into a language of instruction and knowledge, nor should it represent the ultimate limit of this right.

We emphasize that the right to language cannot be a geographically bound right—contingent upon the presence of a significant proportion of Kurdish citizens in a specific area; A mother tongue does not change with a change in place of residence, and a Kurdish student retains the right to learn their mother tongue wherever they are within Syria.

We place particular emphasis on the need to consider students currently in the school system. The benefits of the new policy must not be limited to future generations of students; there is a generation today that has spent years of schooling without a genuine opportunity to learn its mother tongue. Addressing the effects of linguistic deprivation must extend to current students through transitional and remedial programs tailored to their ages, grade levels, and language proficiency.

We also affirm that promoting the Kurdish language does not entail weakening Arabic or diminishing its status. On the contrary, mastering both languages—alongside openness to foreign languages—fosters equality, a sense of belonging, and national unity. It paves the way for a bilingual educational model that upholds the student's right to their mother tongue while ensuring the acquisition of necessary knowledge and skills.

Furthermore, we emphasize that teachers and educational personnel across various disciplines—who have gained practical experience teaching in Kurdish over the past years—represent a valuable educational asset. It is essential to leverage this expertise in building and developing the next phase of education rather than marginalizing or excluding these professionals. Instead, opportunities should be created for them to participate in the formal education system based on clear professional and academic standards; this ensures that accumulated experience is utilized rather than wasted, ultimately contributing to the advancement of education in Syria as a whole.

Based on the foregoing, we call for the following:

1. Amending Ministerial Decree No. 943/28 so that it serves as a step toward ensuring education in the Kurdish language, rather than merely regulating its teaching as a single subject.

2. Guaranteeing the right of Kurdish students to learn their mother tongue across all of Syria, without linking this right to place of residence or specific population ratios.

3. Establishing clear, transparent standards to ensure non-discrimination among students based on residence or the proportion of Kurdish citizens in an area; adopting three weekly classes as a first step, while emphasizing that this is not to be considered an ultimate cap on Kurdish language instruction.

4. Developing a clear timeline for a gradual transition from teaching the Kurdish language to using it as a medium of instruction for an increasing number of subjects, ultimately leading to a bilingual education model at appropriate grade levels.

5. Ensuring that currently enrolled students benefit from the new educational policy, rather than limiting this right to future generations.

6. Implementing transitional and remedial programs for students previously deprived of learning Kurdish, tailored to their ages, grade levels, and language proficiency.

7. Leveraging existing educational expertise and talent in the field of Kurdish-language education—particularly the thousands of teachers and education professionals across various disciplines—and enabling them to participate in the formal education system based on clear professional and academic criteria, without exclusion or marginalization.

8. Preparing and developing curricula, textbooks, and educational and digital resources in Kurdish, and working to develop the necessary scientific and academic terminology.

9. 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.

10. Ensuring the continued teaching and mastery of the Arabic language alongside Kurdish, and adopting bilingual education as a means to foster equal opportunities rather than to prioritize one language over another.

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

12. Ensuring that the Kurdish language does not become a marginal examination subject, but rather maintains a tangible presence across all aspects of school and educational life.

13. Establishing stable legal and legislative guarantees for the linguistic and educational rights of Kurdish citizens, ensuring these rights are not contingent upon administrative decisions subject to amendment or revocation.

We further emphasize that while recognizing the Kurdish language is a significant step to build upon, its success is not measured merely by its inclusion in the class schedule, but by the students' ability to use it for learning, self-expression, and knowledge production. True recognition of linguistic rights is only realized when the language becomes an effective tool for teaching and learning.

We also stress that the experience of Kurdish-language education—spanning approximately fourteen years and encompassing the accumulation of expertise, curricula, and teaching staff—should be treated as an educational asset to be developed and utilized at the national level, rather than an experiment to be bypassed or marginalized. Furthermore, the presence of thousands of teachers across various disciplines—who have gained experience in teaching in the Kurdish language—offers the Ministry a genuine opportunity to build a more comprehensive and efficient educational model, rather than starting from scratch.

We emphasize that linguistic rights are a present entitlement, not a deferred promise, and that any corrective policy must encompass the students currently in the classroom, alongside future generations.

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

Sh-S

ANHA