UNESCO launches project in Kurdistan to provide IDPs, refugees access to education

UNESCO announced the launch of a program that would provide displaced persons and refugees in the Kurdistan Region with access to education.

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) announced the launch of a program that would provide displaced persons and refugees in the Kurdistan Region with access to education.

The project, called “Access to Inclusive Quality Primary and Secondary Education for IDPs and Refugees in Crisis Affected Areas of Iraq,” was launched on Sunday.

According to UNESCO, the program will focus on “strengthening government and non-governmental capacity to implement education in emergencies and support education access for 100,000 Iraqi children” affected by conflict.

Among the attendees at the launch were Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Minister of Education Dr. Pishitwan Sadeq Abdullah.

Abdullah pointed to the burden carried by the Kurdistan Region in sheltering Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and refugees following the emergence of the Islamic State (IS) in 2014.

Kurdistan has provided care for nearly 1.8 million IDPs and refugees who fled the militant group from different parts of Iraq and neighboring Syria.

Abdullah explained the “hospitality [provided by the Region] represented a challenge for the KRG,” but added he was happy the project would include activities in Kurdistan.

“The refugees will return to their homes in the future,” he said at the launch. “However, this should not be a barrier to providing education and all necessary support.”

Head of the European Union’s Liaison Office in the Kurdistan Region Clarisse Pasztory, another attendee, said the project would improve the KRG’s “ability to educate its students through [the] renovation of schools and training for teachers.”

“Education changes perspectives, it changes employment opportunities,” she explained, emphasizing that education was “fundamental to economic and security development.”

Project activities include enrolling students who have been out of school due to war, training teachers, providing learning materials, and renovating schools.