Hundreds of students from Basra submit applications to study in Kurdistan Region

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The office of the Iraqi Ministry of Education in Erbil has set conditions for the admission of students from other Iraqi provinces.

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Iraq said on Saturday that 500 students from the country’s southern Basra province intend to move to schools in Erbil. Some reports suggested at least 4,000 students from Basra had registered to schools in the Kurdistan Region capital.

Following the reports, the office of the Iraqi Ministry of Education in Erbil released a document which outlines conditions for the admission of students from other provinces outside of Kurdistan.

The document explains that the student’s guardian should be employed in the official institutions in the Region and be an official resident in Kurdistan.

The ministry stressed the need for a written commitment from the student’s parent or guardian before they are transferred to other schools. It also said transfers should not be accepted for requests made to schools outside the authority of the Ministry of Education.

The admission will be based on the absorptive capacity, geography, and requirement of the school, the Ministry noted.

Anas al-Azzawi, a member of Iraq’s Human Rights Commission, told Kurdistan 24 that 2,000 students, mostly from southern and central Iraqi provinces, began to submit requests to the Ministry of Education in Kurdistan to study in schools in Erbil.

Azzawi revealed that 500 applications were received from Basra alone.

“This number of students includes applicants for this school year,” Azzawi, a senior education official at the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, added.

Hundreds of families from Basra are reportedly moving from the crisis-ridden province to seek basic services elsewhere, mainly in the Kurdistan Region.

Basra currently suffers from the deterioration of its infrastructure, which has negatively affected public life and triggered one of the worst unrest in the city in recent months. The province is considered one of the richest areas in Iraq as it is the center of the country’s oil industry.

Demonstrators in Basra have demanded the government address their ongoing concerns, and have recently taken to the streets to make their voices heard.