Fostin Luay is a first-grade student in Ainkawa, a Christian-majority district situated on the northern edge of Erbil city. She is learning to read and write in her mother tongue, Syriac.
“I love school and have no problem. I love my mother tongue. I like all school subjects, but I love Syriac more than any other subject,” Fostin Luay told Rudaw’s Lilia Mirautsa, adding that she learned all the letters of Syriac before going to school.
Saad Boya, the school’s principal, said that education in his school is no different from other schools in the Kurdistan Region and that they are treated equally.
“Students from grade one to six will study all the subjects that other students study in public schools, but in Syriac,” Boya said.
In the Kurdistan Region, Syriac, Turkmen, and Armenian languages are officially recognized and the right to teach and use these languages is guaranteed.
There are 48 public schools that teach in Syriac and 18 in Turkmen in the Kurdistan Region, according to the ministry of education.
In 2008, the department for Turkmen language was opened in Erbil’s Salahaddin university, followed by the Syriac language department opening in 2016.
