Category Archives: Education

Recurrent Nightmares for Not Being Punished for Not Talking Kurdish in School

By Dr. M. Koohzad Generally speaking, all of the years at my elementary school were filled with joys of learning, positive energy, and good people. I am now an old retired professor. I advise my grandchildren to try hard to “enjoy learning.”  Yet, there was a sad story that I have to tell in the…

Mufti Penjweni, The Awakening And Righteousness Poet

The faculty of Kurdish studies of the college of languages at the university of Sulaimaniyah in partnership with the District Directorate of Penjwen, is organising a conference about the great Kurdish poet of the locality of Penjwen, Mufti Penjweni, on 18th and 19th of August 2018.  Bookmark on Delicious Recommend on Facebook Share on Linkedin Tweet about…

For History — Unfiltered: How Arab, Turkish, and Persian So-called Intellectuals and Educators Fight the Kurds Thousands of Miles Away From the Homeland

By Dr. Rashid Karadaghi: (This is not a story; I was a witness to it.) The year was 1973. I had already finished my graduate studies in English at UC Santa Barbara and earned a Ph.D. in that field. At that time, I was working on an English-Kurdish dictionary, which I eventually published in 2006…

Kurdistan’s Youth Are Migrating

By Meer Ako Ali: To migrate or not to migrate? This is the question more and more of the youth of the Kurdistan Region are asking themselves. Every month 3,000 people migrate illegally from the Kurdistan Region – mostly to Europe through Turkey – according to Iraqi federal estimates. Last week 12 young Kurds died…

How Kurdish Education Neglects Homegrown Experiences of the Peoples of Kurdistan

Aras Ahmed

By Aras Ahmed Mhamad: Two critical minds investigate the inherent challenges of the Kurdish educational system – why does it keep looking West? While language can be one of the main factors of unity among members of a society, it can also be a devastating factor and the source of unbalanced relationships between peoples, nations…

Kurdistan – A Place Where Leaders are Made

British Expertise International Awards Press Release: Kurdistan Leadership Project awarded the British Expertise International Awards Finalist for 2015 The not for profit leadership development project, ‘Kurdistan – A Place Where Leaders are Made’, recently became a finalist for the British Expertise International Awards 2015, in a new category called: ‘Outstanding International Leadership’ sponsored by The Leadership…

Kurdistan: Avoiding the ‘Happiness’ of Being Compared to the Gulf States

By David Jalil Zare: Like millions of my fellows of Kurdish origin I care about Kurdistan and how to work to make it a place of peace and prosperity. I believe taking the Arabic Gulf States as the model for advancing society and wealth is the worst that can happen to us. It would be…

A Resurgence of Kurdish Studies Research

By Dr.Amir Sharifi: The 48th Annual  Middle East Studies Association of North America in Washington DC Not long ago Kurdish scholars were lamenting the lack of scholarly research about Kurds and Kurdistan and calling on all to initiate and foster much needed multi-disciplinary research. At last Kurdish Studies is emerging as a topic of high…

Education in Kurdistan: A Lost Cause?

Intervew with Dr. Mohammed Shareef by Aras Ahmed Mhamad: This interview first published by Fair Observer From child education all the way to university level, the curriculum in Iraqi Kurdistan is outdated. A modern education system facilitates development, prosperity and peace. A good education raises awareness, increases tolerance and helps to create broadminded, creative and productive individuals….

Iran: Shaheed’s UN reports and a few dark spots on rights to education

By Jamal Ekhtiar: The United Nations rights bodies carelessly mishandle the issues of social and cultural rights, education and students problems with their ‘selfish uproar’ rhetoric, but their long history of so-called human rights safeguarding in Iran has produced no tangible results. The UN rights system seems to respect and advocate rights to safety and…

KRG Education Minister: Building crisis can be solved by 2020

KT News: HAWLER, Kurdistan region – Pishtiwan Sadiq, the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) Minister of Education, says that, if the KRG can resolve the budget crisis, his ministry can solve the deficiencies in school buildings in the region. Sadiq told KNN TV, during a ceremony in Slemani, that the ministry is working on a new…

Kurdistan Campaign for Hand Hygiene

By Chra Abdulla: When we are young our parents have always taught us to wash our hands after touching pets, playing in the garden, before/after eating and even after using the bathroom so that, by the time we become adults, hand washing becomes ‘second nature’. The skin on your hands is the first line of…

To be Happy, is to be Educated

By Pashew Majeed: Twitter: @pashewmajeed A reading response to ‘Happiness and Education’ by Nel Noddings To Zhila Xan, with the hope of an education filled with happiness and felicity A moment ago* after a long time waiting, my friend Sangar texted me saying that her daughter Zhila is just born. For a moment I couldn’t…

‘Pedagogy of the Oppressed’ by Paulo Freire

Pedagogy of the oppressed book cover

Reading Response By Pashew Majeed: “Education either functions as an instrument which is used to facilitate integration of the younger generation into the logic of the present system and bring about conformity or it becomes the practice of freedom, the means by which men and women deal critically and creatively with reality and discover how…

The End of Education: a review

By Pashew M. Nuri: No one can deny the fact that, as long as education involves dealing with human beings, there will be problems; in a way I sometimes define educators as problem solvers, as they are constantly dealing with problems within the bounds of school buildings. The End of Education might answer some questions…