Authorities in northeast Syria struggle to impose Kurdish curriculum
The Kurdish-led Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria has been sanctioning private schools and institutes in its areas of control in northeast Syria and arresting teachers for not following the Kurdish curriculum in their educational systems.
The education crisis has been exacerbating in the areas under the control of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in northeastern Syria after the latter failed to impose its Kurdish curriculum on schools and private institutes in their areas of control.
Teaching the Kurdish language in the Kurdish-majority areas began in 2012 when the Syrian regime forces withdrew from the areas. Small schools were opened to teach the Kurdish language, then Kurdish was introduced to schools’ curricula so that students were able to learn the basics of the language.
Following the formation of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria in 2013, and the subsequent formation of a government and governmental bodies in northeast Syria, the Education Authority was established in 2014.
In 2016, the Education Authority trained some 2,600 teachers specializing in the Kurdish language to teach primary school students. The authority also issued a decision to suspend the Syrian regime curriculum and began to impose its own curriculum in the Kurdish language. The decision, however, was rejected by several private institutes and teachers as well as students. The latter had to depart from the SDF-controlled areas to be able to continue their education elsewhere.
