ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A Syrian government decree issued on Thursday limiting Kurdish language education to specific classes has sparked widespread backlash among students and teachers in northeastern Syria (Rojava) who are demanding that all subjects be taught in their mother tongue.
"All literary and scientific subjects exist in the Kurdish language; math and science exist," the Kurdish city of Qamishli-based teacher, Mohammed Hajo, told Rudaw’s Viviyan Fetah, adding that “Kurds are very advanced scientifically and hold a leading position.”
“Such a dialogue and such a decision neither consider Kurdish rights nor grant rights to the Kurdish language; therefore, Kurdish society will not accept it," he said.
Most subjects have been taught in Kurdish in Kurdish-administered Rojava for the past 15 years under the Kurdish autonomous administration, formed following the withdrawal of the ousted Bashar Assad’s forces from the Kurdish region.
The decree by the central education ministry gives students the option to study social studies, history, geography and philosophy in either Kurdish or Arabic during the coming academic year as part of a “transitional period,” adding that the arrangement will not apply in subsequent years.
This could effectively mean that after the transitional period, these subjects, along with all others except Kurdish, will be taught in Arabic.
"We are teachers. The subjects of multiplication, combination, addition, and subtraction are all mathematical terms," said Leyla Dervish, a teacher residing in Qamishli. "We have the awareness and knowledge in the Kurdish language, and we can say it all in Kurdish."
"We want to study in our own language; we want to study in our mother tongue; we want all our subjects to be in Kurdish," said Sameen Ibrahim, a seventh-grade student in Rojava.
"According to that decision, they say the science department should be in Arabic and literature in Kurdish, which is unacceptable, because we have been studying the science department in the Kurdish language for years, and the Latin and Kurdish letters are the same," added Narin Hassan, a medical student at the University of Rojava. "I don't know what the problem is for them to make it Arabic."
Kurdish officials have repeatedly called for the recognition of Kurdish as an official language and for the language to be taught as the main language of instruction in Rojava.
Mazloum Abdi, commander-in-chief of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), recently announced the dissolution of his force and the completion of the integration of Rojava’s military, security and administrative institutions into state structures. He told Rudaw during an interview earlier this month that they prioritized Kurdish education in recent talks with Damascus.
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