ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Kurdish students in Kirkuk will not be eligible for admission to Iraqi or Kirkuk's universities if they take their exams in Kurdish, the province's Kurdish education director told Rudaw on Thursday.
"In our curriculum, we follow the textbooks that the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has provided to the region's schools, but our exams are those of Iraq. This makes for ambivalence, one ministry should be in charge of exams and programs," Sherzad Rashid Kaka, director of Kurdish education in Kirkuk told Rudaw Radio on Thursday.
The students from Kirkuk have attempted to take the exams from the Kurdistan region, but have been prevented from doing so and denied admission into Iraqi or Kirkuki universities if the tests are conducted by the region's education ministry, Rashid said.
The education director states that, despite the fact that there have always been problems with Iraq, they have intensified following the events of October 16, 2017, when the Peshmerga withdrew from the disputed province, and the Iraqi army and Shiite paramilitaries took over.
Hundreds of teachers and students have fled Kirkuk, and dozens of Kurdish officials have been removed from local authority positions.
At the height of the Islamic State (ISIS) war, the ethnically mixed city of Kirkuk was garrisoned by the Peshmerga. In the years since their withdrawal, the city has seen a new wave of 'Arabization' policies on a scale not seen since the Baathist era.
It has also been noted that they are also being discriminated against, with school supplies and equipment from Baghdad being distributed only to Arabic and Turkmen schools. "Leave us alone, you're from the [Kurdish] Region, let your government provide it. What we've brought is for the Arabic and Turkmen schools," Rashid recalls being told.
The Kurdish language is taught in 515 schools and kindergartens in Kirkuk province. According to data from the Kurdish Studies Department in Kirkuk, 7,600 teachers run these classes. An estimated 98,000 Kurds are studying the Kurdish language in the province.
In October, sources in the education sector in Kirkuk reported that fewer students are being educated in the Kurdish language in the disputed areas of Kirkuk and Salahadin.
"When students have problems during exams, or in the curriculum, they feel that they’ll have a bad future, or no future at all, and this makes parents worried for their children," Rashid says, adding that they encourage Kurdish students to "study in their mother tongue, Kurdish."
"This is what Kurdish people have fought for many years, to study in Kurdish."
A Kurdish language ban was imposed in Kirkuk under Saddam Hussein, as a part of Saddam's effort to convert the oil-rich territory into a predominantly Arab region. After Saddam Hussein was toppled in 2003, Kurdish education was resumed in Kirkuk.
In Iraq, teachers from the Education Ministry are paid in full and on time, but those from the Kurdish Education Ministry are on the Region's long-delayed payroll, leading the Kurdish education directorate to ask to be transferred to the central government, which was denied.
Mariwan Nadir, a member of the Iraqi parliament's education committee, told Rudaw on Wednesday, "we shouldn't point fingers at the Iraqi government when it comes to Kurdish education. The KRG should provide the best services for the disputed territories, but it only represents them symbolically and considers these region Kurdish."
"In our curriculum, we follow the textbooks that the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has provided to the region's schools, but our exams are those of Iraq. This makes for ambivalence, one ministry should be in charge of exams and programs," Sherzad Rashid Kaka, director of Kurdish education in Kirkuk told Rudaw Radio on Thursday.
The students from Kirkuk have attempted to take the exams from the Kurdistan region, but have been prevented from doing so and denied admission into Iraqi or Kirkuki universities if the tests are conducted by the region's education ministry, Rashid said.
The education director states that, despite the fact that there have always been problems with Iraq, they have intensified following the events of October 16, 2017, when the Peshmerga withdrew from the disputed province, and the Iraqi army and Shiite paramilitaries took over.
Hundreds of teachers and students have fled Kirkuk, and dozens of Kurdish officials have been removed from local authority positions.
At the height of the Islamic State (ISIS) war, the ethnically mixed city of Kirkuk was garrisoned by the Peshmerga. In the years since their withdrawal, the city has seen a new wave of 'Arabization' policies on a scale not seen since the Baathist era.
It has also been noted that they are also being discriminated against, with school supplies and equipment from Baghdad being distributed only to Arabic and Turkmen schools. "Leave us alone, you're from the [Kurdish] Region, let your government provide it. What we've brought is for the Arabic and Turkmen schools," Rashid recalls being told.
The Kurdish language is taught in 515 schools and kindergartens in Kirkuk province. According to data from the Kurdish Studies Department in Kirkuk, 7,600 teachers run these classes. An estimated 98,000 Kurds are studying the Kurdish language in the province.
In October, sources in the education sector in Kirkuk reported that fewer students are being educated in the Kurdish language in the disputed areas of Kirkuk and Salahadin.
"When students have problems during exams, or in the curriculum, they feel that they’ll have a bad future, or no future at all, and this makes parents worried for their children," Rashid says, adding that they encourage Kurdish students to "study in their mother tongue, Kurdish."
"This is what Kurdish people have fought for many years, to study in Kurdish."
A Kurdish language ban was imposed in Kirkuk under Saddam Hussein, as a part of Saddam's effort to convert the oil-rich territory into a predominantly Arab region. After Saddam Hussein was toppled in 2003, Kurdish education was resumed in Kirkuk.
In Iraq, teachers from the Education Ministry are paid in full and on time, but those from the Kurdish Education Ministry are on the Region's long-delayed payroll, leading the Kurdish education directorate to ask to be transferred to the central government, which was denied.
Mariwan Nadir, a member of the Iraqi parliament's education committee, told Rudaw on Wednesday, "we shouldn't point fingers at the Iraqi government when it comes to Kurdish education. The KRG should provide the best services for the disputed territories, but it only represents them symbolically and considers these region Kurdish."
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