ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Hundreds of Kurdish Grade 9 and 12 students in Tuz Khurmatu have not yet been received codes to allow then to enter final examinations. The students missed months of classes thanks to the October 16 events which forced them to flee to Kurdish cities. Returning students fear they could miss this year’s exams and not progress to the next level. The students already missed first semester exams and the education department in Saladin province is not allowing them to retake the exams. Many teachers also have not returned to the city. “Garmiyan and Halkawt schools have been merged due to lack of teachers,” Karzan Obeid, a student, who has recently returned to Tuz Khurmatu, told Rudaw. “We are suffering from a lack of teachers in most of our subjects.” He added the majority of Garmiyan students have missed the examinations. Another student called on other pupils and teachers to return to the city. “I hope our students come back in order for our teachers return with them also,” said Harem Abbas, lamenting that “we are very much behind in our subjects.” He added “the final examinations are approaching. We hope the teachers come back as soon as possible so that we could finish our courses completely.” As many as 80 percent of Tuz Khurmatu students have chosen not to return and remain displaced. Those who have returned say they don’t have study materials. “According to our estimations, 3,000-4,000 students have their studies at stake,” Araz Mahmood, the headmaster of Halkawt High School, which was founded after the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, told Rudaw. “Those who have not taken the first semester examinations are very large in number. “For example, in my school and before the October 16 events, we had 700 students. Of this number, only 160-170 students have returned.” In a recent decree, Iraq’s Education Ministry has called on Saladin’s education officials to handover school buildings where there are few Kurdish students for the Arab and Turkmen studies. Thus, the Kurdish studies department, call for urgent help from the Kurdistan Region. “Some of those who came to the Region’s cities such as Erbil and Sulaimani have not returned to schools,” Tariq Ahmed, the head of the Kurdish Studies Department in Tuz Khurmatu, told Rudaw. He urged Erbil and Baghdad to not let their year-long studies be missed. “The solution is that both ministries must issue a decree for the students who are behind in their studies,” added Tariq. There are 13 Kurdish schools in Tuz Khurmatu; the bulk of which were constructed by local people. Of 430 teachers, only 80 have returned. The Kurdish parliament described the killings, burning and looting houses in the city as genocide when Iraqi forces supported by Iran-backed Hashd al-Shaabi paramilitaries drove out Peshmerga. Tens of thousands of Kurdish civilians were displaced in the aftermath of the deadly clashes. Some have since returned. The Flag of Kurdistan remains banned in the disputed or Kurdistani areas including in Tuz Khurmatu, 155 kilometers south of Erbil city and near Kirkuk. Last year, authorities in the Kurdistan Region issued a directive that would allow displaced Khurmatu students to continue to pursue their education while displaced, some of them in makeshift camps. Several schools now have been merged because the number of education staff and students is well below the pre-October 16 level.
