Kurdistan’s Sulaimani prohibits teaching foreign languages in kindergartens

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The General Directorate of Monitoring and Social Development in the province of Sulaimani will be banning the teaching of any foreign language in kindergartens over alleged learning challenges. 

According to the directorate, teaching children at an early age multiple languages can lead to impaired learning, stating they believe it is crucial for children to learn their mother tongue first.  

The directorate sent an official letter to the Kurdistan Region’s Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, suggesting the ministry implement a similar strategy across all provinces in the Kurdish semi-autonomous region.

In the Kurdistan Region, many kindergartens introduce young children to foreign words, mainly in English, alongside teaching them Kurdish. In some, only a foreign language is taught.

“Children should first learn their mother tongue. As such, we decided to prohibit the teaching of foreign languages in our kindergartens,” Hiwa Rahman, the head of the kindergarten department in the General Directorate of Monitoring and Social Development in Sulaimani, told Kurdistan 24 on Saturday.

The decision has already been implemented in the province, and legal measures will be taken against any kindergartens that violate the new policy.

Directors of kindergartens in Sulaimani said that many parents welcomed the decision despite the protests of some.

“In a classroom of 10 children, none have started to talk, or none can speak the Kurdish language well,” Kazhal Abubakr, the director of one of the kindergartens in Sulaimani, told Kurdistan 24.

Adian Aziz, a social service expert in Sulaimani, affirmed they have been asking for the practice of teaching other languages in kindergartens to end for some time.

“Some children are neither learning Kurdish nor the other language,” Aziz said.

The use of the English language is becoming more and more commonplace in the Kurdistan Region. Many English schools and universities have opened up in the Kurdish region over the past decade. After Kurdish, knowledge of the English language continues to be a requirement for most employers in the Kurdistan Region.

(Additional reporting by Aram Bakhtiyar)

Editing by Nadia Riva