As demand for learning the Kurdish language grows in Rojhelat, specialized centers in the cities of Ilam, Kermanshah, Sanandaj, and Urmia, voluntarily teach those interested in reading and writing in their mother tongue.
Adnan Barzinji, head of the Razha institute in Sanandaj, has been teaching the Kurdish language in Rojhelat for the last 17 years and says that what make their hard-work feel worthwhile are the achievements they have obtained as the institute has managed to teach 60 to 70 thousand students willing to learn the Kurdish language.
“One of the obstacles we face is that we receive no support for these organizations and civil institutions, whether that’s from a financial or a spiritual aspect,” Barzinji told Rudaw English last week, adding that another obstacle is the lack of centers and places available for the teachers.
Although the number of people in Rojhelat learning how to read and write in Kurdish is on the rise, especially among the younger generation, Barzinji believes more than 50 percent of the Kurdish population remain illiterate in the language.
Article 15 of the 1979 constitution of Iran states “the official language and script of Iran, the lingua franca of its people, is Persian. Official documents, correspondence, and texts, as well as text-books, must be in this language and script. However, the use of regional and tribal languages in the press and mass media, as well as for teaching of their literature in schools, is allowed in addition to Persian.”
Barzinji says that Kurds should not fixate on Article 15 of the constitution, as it only provides the right for minorities to learn their language’s literature, not how to read and write. He believes it would be more worthwhile to focus on Article 19, which says that the all Iranian people enjoy equal rights and there are no privileges based on religion, language, or race.
Article 19 of the Iranian constitution reads “all people of Iran, whatever the ethnic group or tribe to which they belong, enjoy equal rights; and colour, race, language, and the like, do not bestow any privilege.”
A large number of Kurdish parents have enrolled their children into the Kurdish teaching institutes, as they wish for their children to gain literacy in their mother tongue.
“I am very happy to be studying Kurdish, because I believe whoever does not know their own mother language is illiterate,” said 11-year old Azhin Tarimuradi, who has been studying Kurdish in the private institutes for over a year, “I can read stories and epics in my mother tongue, and I have so far written a number of Kurdish stories, which has made me very happy.”
