ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A Kurdish man, once illiterate himself, has taught numerous people to read and write free of charge, striving to eradicate illiteracy in his hometown of Sanandaj (Sna) in western Iran (Rojhelat).
Fathullah Saeidi hails from Sanandaj, a Kurdish city in western Iran (Rojhelat). The formerly illiterate man attended Kurdish lessons nearly a decade ago. After attending classes for seven years, he learned how to write in his mother tongue.
Saeidi has been teaching the language to other illiterate Kurdish people at his house free of charge. The young and the old attend his classes.
"I want to teach people this language and help my people. I want to help the community so that we can eradicate illiteracy among Kurds. My message is that when somebody gets older, they shouldn't think they cannot [learn] because they can," he told Rudaw earlier this week.
The Iranian government does not provide Kurdish education to Kurds and sometimes cracks down on centers that teach the language.
Idris Gulbaghi is one of Saeidi's students.
"Mr. Fathullah has been teaching me how to write in Kurdish language for two years. I want to thank him and hope that I can do my duty [teaching Kurdish] well too," he said.
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