German state recognizes Rojava school certificates, says student

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Education authorities in Cologne, the largest city in Germany’s North Rhine-Westphalia state, have officially recognized academic certificates issued by schools under the Kurdish-led administration in northeast Syria (Rojava), a Kurdish student told Rudaw.

Ivan Sheikhi, a 17-year-old Kurdish student living in Germany for over a year, said Monday that the recognition applies to his 9th and 10th grade certificates, which were issued in Kurdish by schools in Rojava’s eastern Hasaka province.

“I had my certificates translated by a sworn translator in Germany and submitted them to the relevant department in Cologne, where they were officially accepted,” he said.

The decision is the first of its kind, Sheikhi said, potentially paving the way for other Rojava students to pursue their education in Germany.

He added that many in the Kurdish-led enclave had doubts about their certificates being recognized, but German authorities allowed him to enroll directly in the 11th grade. “All my academic years in Hasaka were acknowledged because they covered all the required subjects,” he said.

Since the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War in 2011, Kurdish authorities in Rojava have implemented their own curriculum, rejecting the previous national curriculum, which they said promoted Ba’athist ideology, and introducing Kurdish as a language of instruction.

After the ouster of longtime dictator Bashar al-Assad late last year, the Kurdish-led administration banned the official Syrian curriculum. However, it later allowed the curriculum in schools affiliated with Christian churches to accommodate popular and religious demands.

Moreover, in recent months, the education dossier has emerged as a sticking point between the Rojava administration and the new leadership in Damascus under Ahmed al-Sharaa.

The Kurdish-led administration is seeking official recognition of its schools and universities, along with the certificates they issue; however, the interim government has not yet approved the request.

In June, the Rojava administration reached an agreement with Damascus that allowed students from the enclave to sit for national exams and receive official certificates recognized by the government.

While this move is seen as a step toward recognition, it does not yet constitute full accreditation of the Kurdish-led administration’s education system.

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