Young women in Jal Agha demand education in their mother tongue

In the Jazira region, reactions rejecting the decision of the Ministry of Education in the transitional government to allocate only three classes for teaching the Kurdish language continue. Young women in the city of Jal Agha expressed their opposition to the decision in statements to our agency.

In this regard, young woman Hebûn Shukri said that the decision to restrict the teaching of the Kurdish language to specific classes is “unacceptable and has numerous repercussions.” She said the government is seeking, through this decision, to marginalize the presence of the Kurdish people and their partnership in Syria, which is unacceptable.

Hebûn added that recognition of the Kurdish language must guarantee the right of Kurdish people to receive education in their language through practical measures, rather than by imposing unfair, conditional restrictions that limit instruction to just three classes.

She stressed that such attempts seek to undermine their will by imposing decisions that restrict their presence and role in Syria.

Hebûn pointed out that freely learning in one’s mother tongue does not simply mean providing educational materials; it also contributes to building a generation capable of preserving its cultural heritage and passing it on to future generations. This would ensure the continuity of the existence, history, and culture of the Kurdish people and protect them from ongoing attempts at denial, assimilation, and genocide against them as an ancient people of the region.

Hebûn affirmed that the Kurdish people's struggle will continue by all means to protect their existence and the gains achieved through the sacrifices of the martyrs, foremost among them the right to freely learn and speak the Kurdish language.

She called on the transitional government to withdraw its decision and amend it in a manner that guarantees the rights of Kurds in Syria.

The Kurdish language is a cultural and linguistic right

For her part, Ghazwa Saif al-Din said that the Kurdish people have struggled for decades to preserve their language and culture in the face of attempts at cultural dissolution and genocide. She considered any measure that fails to meet their aspirations for education in their mother tongue to be inadequate and disrespectful of Syria’s cultural diversity.

Ghazwa said that restricting the teaching of the Kurdish language to specific classes contradicts Presidential Decree No. 13, which recognizes it as a national language.

She stressed that genuine recognition of Kurdish rights requires incorporating the language into various spheres of life and into the education system on a broader scale, while providing a constitutional and legal framework to protect these rights.

Ghazwa emphasized that the Kurdish language is a fundamental pillar of the identity and history of the Kurdish people in Syria, and that the demand to be educated in Kurdish and to use it in all fields is a cultural and linguistic right that must be guaranteed by the Syrian Constitution.

She added that building a new Syria requires recognizing the rights of all its components and refraining from imposing restrictions on the practice of their languages and cultures.

Rejection of treating Kurdish as a foreign language

Meanwhile, young woman Aziza Musa expressed her rejection of the decision by the Ministry of Education in the transitional government to allocate only three classes per week for teaching the Kurdish language in schools, describing it as unacceptable.

She added that limiting Kurdish-language education to a small number of classes and subjecting it to certain conditions does not meet the aspirations of the Kurdish people.

She stressed their right to receive education in their mother tongue as a natural and lawful part of the educational curriculum, rather than treating Kurdish as a foreign language within schools.

Aziza explained that the language is an integral part of the history and culture of Kurdish society, and that any decision that fails to guarantee the full right to education in Kurdish will be unacceptable. She also stressed the need for the transitional government to review its decisions and reformulate them in line with the principles of equality and cultural diversity in Syria.

At the conclusion of her remarks, she stressed the need to continue the struggle to secure the linguistic and cultural rights for which thousands of people from the region have sacrificed, and not to retreat until these rights are legally and permanently guaranteed in the Syrian Constitution. She said that protecting the language means protecting the identity and heritage of future generations.

ANHA