ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Turkey’s education ministry on Wednesday responded to an MP’s inquiry about the low employment of Kurdish language teachers, saying that at least 200 teachers have been employed in ten years.
The allocation of only ten Kurdish language teachers - six for Kurmanji and four for Zazaki dialects - out of 20,000 positions for the Kurdish language in May sparked a backlash from politicians and civil society organizations concerned about undermining the rights of Kurds to learn their mother tongue.
“In 10 years, 147 Kurmanji teachers and 42 Zazaki teachers, totaling 189 Kurdish teachers have been employed,” Turkey’s education ministry said in a response to MP Mohammed Amin Akman of the Democracy and Progress (DEVA) Party, sent to Rudaw by the lawmaker.
Akman was inquiring about the low employment of teachers for Kurdish language courses in the country. The ministry said that ten additional teachers had been employed in May.
Gulderen Varli, a pro-Kurdish Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) lawmaker, said in a post on X in May that Turkish authorities “are trying to prevent education in the mother tongue by allocating 10 Kurdish (Kurmanji-Zazaki) teachers.”
“If Kurds pay taxes in this country, they also have the right to receive education in their native language,” she said.
The ministry’s response also noted that by the end of 2022, 45 teachers had started teaching different subjects, and ten teachers had changed jobs.
Hudai Morsumbu, a Kurdish teacher and activist, told Rudaw that school administrations reduce the number of Kurdish courses and do not want the Kurdish language to be taught.
Morsumbul was relocated to a different school in 2022, allegedly for promoting Kurdish language elective courses and bringing Kurdish books to students.
According to Turkey's education system, Kurds are allowed to study in their mother tongue at school for a few hours a week through elective courses which can only be opened should at least ten students register for the classes.
“If fewer than 15 hours of Kurdish lessons are taught in a school, Kurdish teachers are not needed in that school. The lack of Kurdish language elective courses is a primary reason for Kurdish teachers to change their subject,” said the teacher.
According to Morsumbul, a high number of students in the Kurdish provinces of Bingol, Mardin, and Batman have chosen Kurmanji and Zazaki as elective courses relative to the population size.
Statistics from the education ministry show that 77,931 students registered for Kurdish language classes in the 2015-2016 academic year, with 71,616 students choosing the Kurmanji dialect and the remainder choosing Zazaki.
A 2019 study revealed that only a small portion of Turkey's Kurdish population retains the ability to speak Kurdish.
