KRG education ministry says school name change due to duplication, not foreign influence

The ministry then changed one school's name back to "Qandil School" and a second one to "Qandil Village School."

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Kurdistan Region Ministry of Education on Saturday denied “baseless” rumors circulated on social media that claimed the ministry had ordered changing the name of a school at the request of a foreign nation.

“Some social media pages circulated rumors that the Education Minister changed the name of Qandil School to Chenar at the request of the Consul-General of a country,” a ministry statement read, adding, “this report is baseless, and the objectives behind the propaganda are clear.”

The “Consul-General” the ministry referenced is that of Turkey. Several social media users claimed the change had been made due to Qandil’s affiliation with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

The PKK has been engaged in a decades-long insurgency against Ankara for expanded Kurdish rights. It is currently based in the Qandil Mountains of the Kurdistan Region.

Turkey considers the PKK to be a terrorist organization and continues to conduct anti-PKK operations in the Kurdistan Region, targeting its members, especially in the areas close to its border. However, it has also reportedly carried out campaigns deeper in the region.

The education ministry explained that upon an investigation into the affair, it had found that the local authorities had changed the name because the Kurdistan Region has two schools with the name of “Qandil.”

It added that the minister ordered the name to be reverted to “Qandil School” and a second one, which is located in a village of the same name to be changed to “Qandil Village School” to avoid duplication errors.

Editimg by Karzan Sulaivany