Syrian Kurds Demand Constitutional Guarantees for Kurdish-Language Education

Sulaimani, Kurdistan Region — Senior Syrian Kurdish politician Ilham (Elham) Ahmed said on Monday (26 October 2026) that education in the Kurdish language must be guaranteed under Syria's constitution rather than limited to a few hours a week in schools, as Kurdish authorities push for broader cultural rights amid the integration of their institutions into the Syrian state.

"What we are currently fighting for is to have education in the Kurdish language enshrined in the constitution. This is our natural right as Kurds, and no one can treat it as a favor granted to us," Ahmed said at a seminar at the University of Sulaimani on developments in northeast Syria (Rojava).

Her remarks come amid the implementation of the January agreement between Damascus and the Kurdish-led forces, which ended weeks of fighting and set a framework for integrating northeast Syria's military and civilian institutions into the Syrian state. As part of that process, President Ahmed al-Sharaa's Decree No. 13 of January 2026 formally recognised the Kurdish language as a national language and declared Newroz an official national holiday for the first time in Syria's history — a move welcomed across the Kurdish community.

However, Syria's education ministry then announced that Kurdish would be taught as a compulsory subject for only three hours a week in Kurdish-majority areas, replacing the full Kurdish-language instruction that students had received for over a decade under the autonomous administration. The restriction has triggered classroom boycotts and protests by students and teachers in Hasakah (Hesekê), Kobanê, Qamishlo, Dirbêsiyê and other cities.

Ahmed welcomed the decree's recognition of Kurds as an indigenous component of Syria while criticising its limited provisions on education. "In the latest meeting held in Damascus, we demanded that the education system be bilingual — in Kurdish and Arabic — and that the English language also be taught," she said. Kurdish authorities have also stated that rights protected only by "temporary decrees" are insufficient and must be written into a permanent, inclusive constitution. Rudaw reported earlier this month that five Kurdish-language schools are expected to open in Hama province, with similar requests submitted for Daraa, Afrin and Serê Kaniyê. (Source: Rudaw English)