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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.
A Kurdish girl reads a book at a library in Kurdish-majority Qamishli in northeast Syria on January 11, 2017.
For years, Syria's Kurds were banned from using their language in official settings and prevented from learning it in schools or publishing magazines or books in the tongue.
 / AFP / DELIL SOULEIMAN        (Photo credit should read DELIL SOULEIMAN/AFP via Getty Images)
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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.

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