Qamishlo students protest against restrictions on Kurdish language education

According to KurdPress, students in several schools in the western neighborhood of Qamishlo held a rally and issued a statement, expressing their opposition to the decision of the Syrian Interim Government's Ministry of Education to allocate only three sessions per week to Kurdish language education, and demanded a review of this decision and guaranteeing the right to education in the mother tongue.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), these protests are a continuation of the reactions to the decision No. 2068 / 964 of the Syrian Ministry of Education, which was issued on August 27, 2026, which limited Kurdish language education to three sessions per week.This decision has been met with protests in recent weeks by students, families, teachers and educational institutions in various cities and regions of the island.

In their statement, the protesting students stated that the Kurdish language is part of the identity and history of the Kurdish community and that they do not consider the allocation of three sessions per week for teaching this language to be sufficient. They called on the Ministry of Education of the interim government to reconsider its decision and allow students to continue their education in their mother tongue.

At the same time, the Academy of Educational Research in Qamishlo also held a ceremony in front of the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, calling for the expansion of education in the Kurdish language. The institution stated that limiting Kurdish education to three sessions per week is not compatible with the right to education in the mother tongue and called for the full recognition of the Kurdish language in the future constitution of Syria.The protests continue despite the fact that Presidential Decree No. 13 recognized Kurdish as a national language and allowed its teaching in areas with significant Kurdish populations. However, the implementation of the new educational regulations and the extent to which Kurdish is used in schools have become a point of contention between the interim government’s educational institutions and local institutions in Kurdish-populated areas.

Meanwhile, a large-scale rally is scheduled to be held in front of the March 12 Stadium in Qamishlo on Tuesday. According to the “People’s Initiative of the Island Region,” citizens and students from Qamishlo, Hasakah, Dirak, Amuda, Darbazyah, Jal Agha, Tel Tamer, Torbeh Sepi and Geraki Lege will participate in the rally.The rally is scheduled to take place at 11:30 a.m. and aims to protest the restrictions on Kurdish language education and demand that curricula be taught in Kurdish.

Protests against the restrictions on Kurdish language education have been ongoing in several cities and regions of the island since late August, with students and their families calling for the preservation of education in the mother tongue in various rallies, sit-ins, and statements.