{"id":141135,"date":"2026-09-06T11:46:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T11:46:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/npasyria.com\/en\/?p=141135"},"modified":"2026-09-06T11:46:17","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T11:46:17","slug":"kurdish-students-protest-limits-on-kurdish-language-classes-in-syria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/npasyria.com\/en\/141135\/","title":{"rendered":"Kurdish students protest limits on Kurdish language classes in Syria"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) \u2013<\/strong> Kurdish students in Hasakah, Qamishli and Kobani cities on Sunday refused to enter classrooms as the 2026-2027 academic year began, protesting a Syrian Education Ministry decision limiting Kurdish-language instruction to three classes per week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Students issued statements rejecting the new regulations and demanding the right to study in their mother tongue, including the use of Kurdish as the main language of instruction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe Kurdish language is our voice, our culture and our existence, and we do not accept only three classes for our language,\u201d students said in their statements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In Hasakah, hundreds of students reportedly refused to enter their schools, while teachers also criticized the decision, saying three weekly classes would not be sufficient to teach Kurdish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Student Ibrahim Amer said he would not return to school until the issue was resolved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWhy can\u2019t we learn in Kurdish when it is our mother tongue?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Teacher Thuraya Darwish noted that students in northeast Syria had studied under a Kurdish-medium education system for more than a decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cFor 14 years, students were educated based on their mother tongue. How can they now be required to study in Arabic?\u201d She told the Kurdish news agency ANHA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Similar protests were reported in Kobani, where students rejected the reduction in Kurdish-language instruction and called for Kurdish to remain the main language used in education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Student Hengavin Moussa said the protesters did not oppose Arabic but wanted their mother tongue to remain central to their education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The protests follow a major change in Syria\u2019s education system after the integration process in northeast Syria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In January, Syrian Transitional President Ahmad al-Sharaa issued Decree 13, recognizing Kurdish as a \u201cnational language\u201d and allowing it to be taught in public and private schools in areas with significant Kurdish populations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Education Ministry later prepared Kurdish-language curricula for the 2026-2027 academic year. However, instructions issued in late August limited Kurdish-language classes to three per week, while allowing several subjects to be taught in Kurdish or Arabic during a transitional period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The system replaces the Kurdish-medium education introduced by the Kurdish Autonomous Administration in northeast Syria more than a decade ago, prompting renewed Kurdish demands for broader constitutional and educational recognition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>By Jwan Shekaki<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) \u2013 Kurdish students in Hasakah, Qamishli and Kobani cities on Sunday refused to enter classrooms as the 2026-2027 academic year began, protesting a Syrian Education Ministry decision limiting Kurdish-language instruction to three classes per week. Students issued statements rejecting the new regulations and demanding the right to study in their mother [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":141136,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pgc_sgb_lightbox_settings":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,39,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-141135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","category-home","category-syria"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Kurdish students protest limits on Kurdish language classes in Syria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) \u2013 Kurdish students in Hasakah, Qamishli and Kobani cities on Sunday refused to enter classrooms as the 2026-2027 academic\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, 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