New school year starts in the Kurdistan Region

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - As students and teachers return to classes for the new school year in the Kurdistan Region on Tuesday, Prime Minister Masrour Barzani called on teachers to get vaccinated.

The premier ushered in the new academic year at a school in Erbil’s Shaqlawa district, ringing the school bells. 

“Education decides the future of our country. We are working on giving our students the best form of education, in order to have a healthy, patriotic, and environmentalist future generation,” Barzani said in a speech.

“I ask our dear teachers to get vaccinated for the sake of their own safety and the safety of our children,” Barzani added.

The Kurdistan Region health ministry earlier this month dedicated a week from September 7 to September 15 for the vaccination of teachers ahead of the new school year. 

“All vaccination centers and stations in all provinces, administrations, cities, towns and districts will be dedicated to vaccinating university, school, and institution teachers for a week from September 7 to 15 to finish vaccination of all teachers,” Aso Hawezi, spokesperson for the health ministry, said.

However, according to the minister of education, only about 35 percent of teachers have been vaccinated.

“So far 35 percent of teachers have been vaccinated,” Alan Hamasaid told Rudaw. “Even though schools will resume with restrictive measures, we have given student families the option to choose online learning if necessary.”

The Kurdistan Region schools closed down and reopened a number of times ever since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

The first three weeks will be dedicated to catching up on last year, based on this year’s curriculum.

According to the ministry of education there are over 1.8 million students in the Kurdistan Region, of which around 1.7 million study in public schools.

There are also 162,000 teachers and staff in the public schools and 10,000 in the private schools. The Kurdistan Region has 6,700 public schools and 445 private schools, in contrast to the amount of students, the Region needs an extra 3,000 schools.