QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – On Feb. 16, UNESCO issued a press release calling for countries to pursue a policy of multilingual education in anticipation for International Mother Language Day on February 21.
According to one study quoted by UNESCO, “Children being taught in a language they speak at home are 30% more likely to read with understanding by the end of primary school than those who do not speak the language of instruction.”
“Evidence also shows that learning in first language or mother tongue education improves children’s social skills,” the UNESCO press release added.
The ruling body in northeast Syria, the Autonomous Administration (AANES), has long made community-based education a pillar of its new system.
Under Baathist rule, Syria’s Kurds were compelled to study a state-mandated curriculum in Arabic. Kurdish education was outlawed. Education in other minority languages, such as Syriac or Armenian, was tolerated but relegated to the private sphere.
After establishing itself in northeast Syria in 2012, the AANES’ precursor introduced multilingual education. Today, Kurdish-majority areas have a Kurdish-based curriculum, with at least one class in Arabic, and vice-versa. Kurdish was also made co-official with Arabic on administrative level.
The AANES has also encouraged and facilitated education in other minority languages, such as Armenian. Syriac was made the third co-official tongue of northeast Syria. Syriac textbooks exist and the door is open for the Syriac community to teach in their language. However, due to the low number of Syriac-speaking teachers and lack of interest, it has so far not been implemented.
Major Tensions
This betrays a key tension at the heart of the AANES’ multilingual system: it lacks recognition abroad and throughout the country. Thus, many residents of north and east Syria, a majority of the Syriac community among them, send their children to central government or private schools. Parents who can afford it hire tutors to teach their children the Damascus curriculum after school.
Students who graduate from AANES’ schools have a harder time getting into Syria’s universities, as entrance exams are tied to the central government curriculum (and are, of course, in Arabic). The AANES’ own university system is still in its infancy – its entire student body is only about 2.350 – and itself lacks recognition abroad.
The AANES has not helped things by lashing out at teachers who have tried to augment their meager salaries by tutoring students in the government curriculum after school. Over the past years, a number have been fined or briefly detained.
The AANES curriculum has also been controversial in more conservative areas of north and east Syria, such as Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor, where protestors have rejected progressive classes on ‘Jineoloji’ (or women’s science) and multi-religious education. The AANES has attempted to work with local councils to adapt curricula, though tensions remain.
Questions Left Unanswered
Most residents of the region, in particular those speaking minority languages, are happy with the AANES education itself. An entire generation of post-2012 Kurds have been instructed in their language, which had been criminalized when their parents were in school.
However, many residents also feel that the compulsory AANES education is barring their children from better opportunities – Kurds included. As all of Syria stares into an uncertain future, graduates of AANES’ education system will have more difficulties receiving internationally-recognized titles than their peers. Unless the AANES can convince foreign governments of the quality of its education, the current system risks trapping an entire generation behind degrees not worth their ink on paper.
This week, the UNESCO highlighted the benefits to a multilingual education and the pitfalls of forcing a population into studying in a language other than their own. But one question remains unanswered: what do you do when your government wants it to remain that way?