What International Law says about Kurdish-Language Education

The decision allows Kurdish to be taught in public and private schools in the form of three weekly lessons. It also includes the language in the curriculum and counts its grade toward students’ final overall grades, alongside Arabic and English.

Residents of Kurdish areas, however, are calling for a broader use of Kurdish in the educational process, including teaching the curriculum in Kurdish.

The issue of using the mother tongue in education is addressed in a number of international charters and declarations dealing with linguistic and educational rights. Article 5(1)(c) of the 1960 UNESCO Convention against Discrimination in Education recognizes the right of members of national minorities to carry out educational activities, including the possibility of using their own language or teaching it, while taking into account the educational policy of the state and ensuring that this does not prevent members of the minority from understanding the language and culture of society as a whole.

This provision is considered one of the international texts that directly addresses the use of minority languages in education.

Under Article 27 of the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, in states where ethnic, religious, or linguistic minorities exist, persons belonging to such minorities may not be denied the right, in community with other members of their group, to enjoy their own culture, practice their religion, or use their own language.

The UN Human Rights Committee interpreted this provision in its General Comment No. 23 of 1994, document CCPR/C/21/Rev.1/Add.5, affirming that the right of members of linguistic minorities to use their own language constitutes a right protected under Article 27.

The 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child addresses the issue from the perspective of children’s rights. Article 30 states that, in countries where ethnic, religious, or linguistic minorities exist, a child belonging to such a minority may not be denied the right, in community with other members of the child’s group, to enjoy their own culture, practice their religion, or use their own language.

Article 29 also sets out the aims of education, including the development of respect for the child’s cultural identity, language, and values, as these are linked to the preservation and use of language as part of the child’s cultural and educational rights under the Convention.

The 1992 UN Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities addresses the issue more directly. Article 4(3) states that states should take appropriate measures, wherever possible, so that members of minorities have adequate opportunities to learn their mother tongue or receive instruction in their mother tongue.

This provision is among the most direct UN texts referring to education in the mother tongue, while using the phrase “wherever possible” and linking it to measures taken by states.

Linguistic rights are also linked to the right to education set out in Article 13 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, as well as the right to participate in cultural life under Article 15 of the same Covenant.

The international human rights framework treats language as a component of identity, culture, and participation in public life, while emphasizing the principles of equality and non-discrimination in the enjoyment of rights.

UN documents on cultural rights explain that protecting language is linked to participation in cultural life and to the rights of persons belonging to linguistic minorities.

In the field of education, UNESCO places multilingual education and mother-tongue-based education among policies aimed at improving the quality and inclusiveness of education.

According to UNESCO’s latest published data on languages in education, 40% of the world’s population does not have access to education in a language they speak and understand fluently. This affects more than a quarter of a billion learners, while the rate rises to around 90% in some low- and middle-income countries.

The organization also notes that more than 7,000 languages are spoken around the world today, while only 351 are used as languages of instruction, according to data published in its multilingual education guidelines.

UNESCO data point to differences in learning outcomes associated with the language of instruction. In upper-middle- and high-income countries, children who speak the language of instruction at home were 14% more likely to demonstrate reading comprehension by the end of primary school than those who did not speak it.

The gap is wider in some countries, reaching 28% in France and exceeding 60% in countries including Iran, Slovakia, South Africa, and Turkey, according to UNESCO’s analysis.

By the end of lower secondary school, adolescents who spoke the language of instruction were more than 40% more likely to demonstrate reading comprehension than those who did not speak it.

In its guidelines on multilingual education, UNESCO recommends beginning instruction in a language the learner understands and then gradually developing the learner’s ability to transition to other languages.

The organization’s data indicate that at least six years of mother-tongue education can help reduce learning gaps among speakers of minority languages.

UNESCO also stresses the importance of training teachers and providing the curricula and educational materials needed for bilingual and multilingual education.

The organization also points to educational experiences that have adopted bilingual or multilingual models. Its data show that students in some bilingual programs had lower rates of grade repetition and dropout, as well as better results in several subjects.

In Guatemala, students in bilingual schools recorded lower rates of grade repetition and dropout and achieved higher results across different subjects. Meanwhile, an eight-year bilingual program in Ethiopia showed improvements in learning across subjects.

International models for organizing multilingual education vary widely, ranging from countries that recognize more than one official language at the national level to systems that provide for multilingual education in specific regions.

Other countries grant certain languages official status or establish specific requirements regarding the number of subjects or lessons that must be taught in a minority language.

International charters and conventions do not establish a single binding model for multilingual education, nor do they generally require all states to provide every stage of education in all minority languages.

By contrast, international instruments contain provisions aimed at preventing discrimination and ensuring opportunities to learn the mother tongue or receive education in it, while UNESCO explicitly calls for the adoption of mother-tongue-based multilingual education.

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ANHA