QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – A 2026 presidential decree recognizing Kurdish cultural and linguistic rights has reopened debate over Kurdish-language education, with Damascus backing two weekly lessons while Kurdish institutions seek broader mother-tongue instruction.
The Syrian government plans to include Kurdish as a subject in the official curriculum, with two lessons a week. Kurdish institutions, however, are calling for a broader approach that would make Kurdish a language of instruction alongside Arabic, particularly in Kurdish-majority areas.
The dispute is about more than the number of lessons. It raises questions about how Syria’s education system can protect the mother tongue and the cultural identity of different communities while maintaining a shared national education system.
A historic recognition
Dr. Samar Habib, a faculty member at the Higher Institute for Population Research and Studies at Damascus University, told North Press that Presidential Decree No. 13 of 2026 marks a “historic turning point” in Syria’s educational and social policies.
She said the decree recognizes Kurds as an integral part of the Syrian people and acknowledges their linguistic and cultural identity as an inseparable part of Syria’s broader national identity.
Habib said the decree’s significance goes beyond recognizing cultural and linguistic rights and assigning the Education Ministry, under Decision No. 943, to prepare the relevant curricula. In her view, it also addresses historical grievances by removing the legal effects of the exceptional 1962 census in Hasakah governorate.
From an educational and social perspective, Habib said the decree represents a shift away from policies of exclusion and forced Arabization toward legal recognition and national inclusion. She nevertheless pointed to a gap between symbolic recognition and actual educational empowerment.
Teaching Kurdish or learning in Kurdish?
Habib said the decree treats Kurdish as an optional subject or cultural activity rather than a language of instruction, stressing what she considers a fundamental distinction between “learning a language” and “learning in a language.”
Two lessons a week, she said, are not enough to develop the level of proficiency needed to protect the mother tongue or ensure that it is passed on to future generations.
Her position draws on four main educational and social frameworks:
The first is multicultural education, which she said views linguistic recognition as a way to strengthen the legitimacy of the state and integrate different communities within a shared civic framework.
The second concerns the right to education. Habib cited Article 30 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the 1992 U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities, which she said affirm the right to learn in one’s mother tongue while remaining within the state’s broader educational framework.
The third is social integration theory, which views schools as a means of strengthening national solidarity rather than dividing society.
The fourth draws on UNESCO frameworks on mother-tongue education. Habib referred to studies indicating that developing academic language proficiency requires five to seven years of intensive, systematic exposure. She said early education in the mother tongue can also improve students’ performance in the state’s official language.
Three education tracks
Habib proposes a three-track model that could be introduced gradually over three to five years to move beyond the limitations of two Kurdish lessons a week.
The first track is parallel bilingual education. Under the model, science and social studies would be taught in both Kurdish and Arabic in areas with high Kurdish population concentrations, including Hasakah, Qamishli, Afrin and Kobani.
The second would involve language support programs, with four to six Kurdish lessons a week alongside intensive extracurricular activities in areas with medium or mixed population concentrations.
The third track would introduce integrated multicultural curricula by incorporating the history and culture of Kurds and other communities into the national curriculum for students across Syria, with the aim of strengthening social integration.
Habib said implementing the model would require training teachers through accelerated programs lasting six to 12 months, as well as drawing on regional expertise and introducing educational and linguistic proficiency tests.
She said local councils and different social groups would also need to be involved to prevent feelings of marginalization among other communities. A special coordination unit within the Education Ministry would also be needed to oversee a gradual rollout, initially testing the model in 15 to 20 schools before expanding it.
“Teaching Kurdish as a separate subject for two lessons a week is an important and politically acceptable first step toward ending the historic rupture, but it is not enough from an educational standpoint,” Habib said.
“Genuine protection of the mother tongue requires a gradual, phased move toward bilingual education, while firmly maintaining Arabic and national education as common elements for all Syrians,” she added.
“A step in the wrong direction”
Ibrahim Khalil, a Kurdish writer and linguist living in Germany, takes a different view.
He said there is a contradiction between official statements describing Kurds as an “integral part of the Syrian fabric” and what he described as the Syrian government’s treatment of them as a “large community.”
Khalil said this contradiction lies at the heart of the disagreement between the Syrian government and the Autonomous Administration over Kurdish-language education.
In his view, two optional Kurdish lessons a week cannot be considered a national achievement or a meaningful step toward resolving the Kurdish issue in Syria. Rather, he described the policy as “a step in the wrong direction toward national assimilation and the Arabization of what remains of the Kurds.”
A second official language
Khalil said a national solution would be to recognize Kurdish as a second official language and establish public primary schools in Kurdish areas where instruction is conducted entirely in Kurdish.
He proposed one daily Arabic lesson and suggested that Arabic, alongside Kurdish, be treated as a core subject required for promotion.
He said the two languages could later alternate as languages of instruction during the preparatory and secondary stages. He also proposed establishing a “Kurdish Education Department” within Syria’s Education Ministry.
In higher education, Khalil said Syrian universities could initially open Kurdish literature departments within their faculties of arts. Alternatively, four institutes could be designated to train Kurdish-language teachers in Hasakah, Qamishli, Afrin and Kobani.
“This is the minimum that can satisfy the aspirations of the Kurdish people in Syria while preserving their language and heritage,” he said.
Two competing models
The dispute puts the Syrian government and Kurdish educational institutions before two different approaches to Kurdish-language education.
The first would include Kurdish in the official curriculum as a separate subject. The second calls for Kurdish to become a language of instruction alongside Arabic in Kurdish-majority areas.
Habib sees two weekly Kurdish lessons as a first step that can eventually develop into a bilingual education model. Khalil, however, argues that the approach does not provide sufficient protection for the language and says recognition of Kurdish as a second official language, along with its use as a language of instruction in Kurdish areas, is the minimum required.
The challenge for Syria’s education system is to find a formula that protects Kurdish linguistic and cultural rights while maintaining Arabic as a shared language within a national education system capable of accommodating the country’s linguistic and cultural diversity.