Syrian Kurds struggle to maintain mother-tongue education

For over a decade, children in northern Syria were schooled entirely in their native Kurmanji. This period of self-rule allowed the language to flourish after decades of suppression under the Assad regime. Following the January government offensive and the subsequent dissolution of Kurdish-led forces, the new administration under President Ahmed al-Sharaa faces a volatile transition. The education ministry’s recent decree permits history, geography, and social studies to be taught in Kurdish, but mandates that mathematics and sciences return to Arabic.

Students like 16-year-old Suzan Ali argue that the shift is pedagogically impossible for those who have never studied technical subjects in Arabic. Education Minister Mohammed Abdul Rahman Turko defended the policy in parliament, citing the extreme difficulty of translating the entire curriculum and the lack of qualified teachers for all specialties. Kurdish official Ilham Ahmad labeled the decree a positive initial step but insisted that the right to full Kurdish-language instruction must be enshrined in the nation's new constitution. Educators on the ground, such as Mohamed Ahmed, are now calling for a formal transition period of at least two years to prevent a total disruption of learning for an entire generation of students.