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Parliament to debate draft law to teach
Kurdish in Iraqi schools outside Kurdistan
10.7.2012 |
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Currently, 90 schools from the Rusafa neighborhood
and 20 schools from Karkh are studying Kurdish
experimentally, Photo: Rudaw
July 10, 2012
BAGHDAD, — A number of lawmakers have
forwarded a draft law to the speaker of Iraqi
Parliament regarding the Kurdish language in
education system.
A lack of teachers specializing in the Kurdish
language to fill positions in more than 21,000
schools is the main obstacle to implementing the
law.
The draft law, which stipulates that the Kurdish
language be studied from the fourth grade through
college in all of Iraq, has been signed by 30 MPs.
Burhan Faraj, a member of the education committee in
Iraqi Parliament, said, “We have been working on
this project for a while. Our committee asked Iraq’s
Ministry of Education to implement this law, but we
believe they will not.”
Faraj added, “The draft law has been prepared and
forwarded to the speaker of parliament to get in
order legally.”
Alla Maki, deputy chair of the education committee,
told Rudaw, “The idea is that Arab students will
learn the basics of Kurdish starting in primary
school, just as Arabic is currently studied in
Kurdistan Region schools.”
Maki believes the project is significant as language
can create a strategic relationship between Iraqi
children, along with the more general benefits of
learning another language.
He added, “The project is constitutional. It is
based on the constitution that everybody has agreed
to.”
The Kurdish language is currently taught in Iraqi
high schools. According to the constitution, it must
be taught at all levels of education as it is an
official language of Iraq,www.ekurd.net
alongside Arabic.
Hussein Jaff, the general director of Kurdish
studies in Iraq’s Ministry of Education, reported
that the language is already being taught in over
100 schools in Baghdad. “Currently, 90 schools from
the Rusafa neighborhood and 20 schools from Karkh
are studying Kurdish experimentally,” he said.
He added, “In the beginning, it was just for the
Kurdish students, but later a number of Arab
families wanted their children to learn Kurdish as
well.”
Jaff said that, if the project passes this phase of
testing, it will become a standard subject that
students are obligated to study across Iraq.
According to the data, 1,554 schools are studying
Kurdish outside Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG)
administrative areas. A large number are in Kirkuk.
Jaff said that over 1,000 graduate students can
teach Kurdish, but a shortage of capable teachers in
the south and middle of Iraq has been the main
barrier in implementing the law.
Maki said that, once the draft law is approved, this
will be sorted out in planning. “We can exchange
teachers. We will send Kurdish teachers to the south
to teach Kurdish and send Arab teachers to Kurdistan
to teach Arabic,” he said.
Faraj added, “We have asked the KRG and Baghdad to
cooperate in this regard. We will also ask the
Ministry of Higher Education to consider this so we
can prepare good experts in the field.”
Adnan Hussein - Rudaw
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