Kurds in Rojava rally against end of Kurdish-medium schooling

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Kurdish students, parents and teachers rallied in northeast Syria's Rojava region on Monday against a Syrian government decision to end full Kurdish-medium schooling, arguing it falls short of their demands for language rights.

Rosev Ali, a tenth-grade student who has spent a decade studying in Kurdish, was among the protesters in Amuda near Qamishli, rallying against a late August Damascus education ministry decision that made Kurdish a mandatory subject taught three times a week while ending full Kurdish-medium instruction in Rojava.

"If I had to go back and start learning Arabic from scratch, it would be incredibly hard - and I'm not alone. All my friends are going through the same thing," she told Rudaw.

Ali also urged the Kurdish-led Democratic Autonomous Administration for North and East Syria (DAANES), which governs Rojava, not to acquiesce to the decision.

"We know sacrifices must be made - but we ask only one thing. Do not let our Kurdish language be one of them," she said, addressing the Kurdish leadership.

Most subjects in Rojava schools have been taught in Kurdish for the past 15 years, since the withdrawal of ousted Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad’s forces from the enclave. 

In addition to making Kurdish a mandatory subject to be taught three times a week, the education ministry decree gives students in Rojava the option to study social studies, history, geography and philosophy in either Kurdish or Arabic during the coming academic year as a "transitional period" - with no such provision guaranteed beyond it.

Arshak Baravi is a school instructor who has been teaching Kurdish even longer - since 1986, when he did so in secret. He was arrested multiple times by the toppled Ba'ath regime for teaching what it called a "foreign language."

Baravi told Rudaw that the new Damascus government's decision was "wrong.”

“When they talk about integration, what they really mean is forced assimilation - they refuse to treat us as an ethnic community, as brothers,” he said, urging that they “embrace our language, not be its enemy.”

The Syrian education ministry said its decision stems from a January presidential decree which recognizes Kurdish as a "national language." Kurds in Rojava, however, argue it falls far short of their demands.