Kurdish education in disputed areas will follow Iraqi education ministry program: Official

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Kurdish education in the disputed areas will follow the program of the Iraqi education ministry and not that of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), an official told Rudaw on Tuesday, adding that thousands of teachers will be transferred to the federal government’s payroll. 

“[The Kurdish education program] will follow the program of the Iraqi education ministry instead of the KRG education program, but this might be implemented in a couple of years,” Sana Hidayat Garmiyani, director general of Kurdish education at Iraq’s education ministry, told Rudaw’s Nahro Mohammed, with regards to Kurdish schools in the disputed areas.

Garmiyani added that in accordance with the agenda of Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani, a three-person committee has been formed to transfer the staff and employees of Kurdish schools in the disputed areas to the Iraqi Ministry of Education’s payroll.

“We expect around 17 thousand 500 teachers, employees, and workers on the KRG’s payroll in the disputed areas to be transferred to the Kurdish education’s payroll at the Iraqi education ministry,” he said.

The official noted that the committee will extend a formal document to the education directorates of Kirkuk, Nineveh, Salahaddin, and Diyala on Wednesday to determine how much staff they require, adding that they expect the committee to conclude its work in the next eight months.