Lets go to school in Kurdistan

To the world's most loyal blog reader,

First of all before you do your glayee (which is basically you complaining why I haven't blogged for a while) let me explain. I have been busy with courses, modules, essays etc... and also I sometimes write in Tasbeeh & Chay.

Anyhow…

Recently I received an email from someone who said she was returning to Kurdistan and she was worried, mostly about schools. So, this blog is not only for my blog reader who asked me to tell her a little about what to expect when she returns, but also any of you who are planning to make a return back HOME. And yes it is home.

With any return back to Kurdistan the number one concern of families is "manalakan… ay maktabakayan chon?" (children, how about their schooling?) does that sentence sound familiar? Funny enough in every house hold when the subject of returning to Kurdistan opens this becomes the number one concern of so many parents, and for that matter the kids too.

I don't want to make it seem like a nightmare, but unfortunately for pubic schools the conclusion one can make is that schools are not always fun, there is a lot of pressure on students and most of the learning is off the text book. The only method of testing are examinations and too often to succeed one starts paying for a private tutor. However, there is a bright side.

Today in Kurdistan there are many English schools, though the system is different to a degree, in fact it can be entirely different. However, it is not impossible to manage and many go through successfully. Now it is much better than six years ago when I first returned. There are different options when it comes to schools- some are elegant, expensive and are described to be military-like. This is probably the schools where all the children of businessmen and leaders. Nevertheless, there are others which are quiet decent but you just have to learn a few other languages along the way. This means you need to take a Kurdish and an Arabic class (and Turkish sometimes), though the subjects are all tMany of my friends have gone through these types of schools in Kurdistan, I must admit they have great jobs at the moment and they can speak and write three or four languages fluently- including English.

Schools should no longer be an issue when a family moves back to Kurdistan, at least not as a great issue as it was few years back. The interesting part is that there are also universities at the moment. There is a long list of English-teaching universities in Kurdistan, though the best of the list remain to be the American University in Sulaimaniya (Slemani) known as the AUIS and The University of Kurdistan- Hawler, which I believe is the best in all of Iraq. Here, education is entirely in English, exams, essays, assignments you name it. Nearly all the lecturers are either international or have completed their degrees abroad.  

So…. Next time you think school and university is a reason why you don't want to return to Kurdistan, think again. There are options… the experience of schooling and education back home has its own beauty.