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Kurdistan
Schoolgirls at Bahirka Girls High School in Bahirka, Erbil mark the start of the new school year on September 27, 2020. Photo:Rudaw
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The school year in the Kurdistan Region began on Sunday after seven months of closure due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, with grade 12 students returning to classes under new restrictions.
Prime Minister Masrour Barzani rang the bell at the Bahirka Girls High School in Erbil province to mark the start of the new school year.
Only grade 12 students are allowed to physically attend classes at this stage, according to the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Minister of Education Alan Hama Saeed.
Saeed said the KRG allocated 540,000,000 dinars to his ministry to buy protective and medical equipment "across all the study centers in the Kurdistan Region, Kirkuk, Khanaqin and other Kurdistani areas outside of the Kurdistan Region administration."
More than 20,000 grade 12 students across 94 schools in Erbil return to class today, according to Dler Abdulla Hassan, head of Erbil central education. Each class should accommodate 15 to 20 students and should be social distanced. Masks must be worn and disinfectant used by students, teachers and other school staff in order to enter the building.
“Due to this coronavirus, the education ministry is forced to reopen schools phase after phase. What has happened today was just the start of the school for grade 12 students given that this class is important and they are at a sensitive stage," Hassan added.
"If this dangerous virus lessens, we will start school for grade one and two pupils on October 10. For them, it is important to open school because they are at a very basic stage and it is impossible for them to study remotely," he added. "They need teachers and need to be physically present in class."
Students in grades 3 to 11 should study online.
"Students can receive their lessons at home through a specially designed link, page or [an] application from the education ministry where all the lessons are recorded for them," he added.
The Kurdistan Region has 6,429 schools, with more than 1.7 million students for the 2020-2021 school year, according to data from the education ministry.
Schools and universities were closed on February 26 as part of the KRG’s measures to curb the spread of COVID-19 and have remained closed ever since.
The education ministry approved online education in mid-April but eventually cancelled examinations as pupils and students missed out on a significant chunk of the curriculum. Grade 12 students went ahead with their final examinations under strict coronavirus containment measures.
Primary school pupils in grades one to three automatically progressed to the next grade.
Students in grades four to 11 had their second semester examinations cancelled and grades from the first semester were counted for the entire year.
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