Kurdistan Region announces starting date of new school year

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Following the upending of the last school year in both public schools and universities by the coronavirus pandemic, the Kurdistan Region has announced that the 2021-2022 academic year will begin in mid-September.

Members of the autonomous region's Council of the Ministries of Education and Higher Education made the decision at a session on Monday, supervised by Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani.

According to a government statement, education officials present discussed the status of various ongoing preparations such as the distribution of school supplies and health restrictions to prevent the spread of the coronavirus among teachers and students.

"The government will provide all the requirements to start the new school year on September 14, 2021," said Talabani.

Minister of Education Alan Hama Saeed also said that his ministry and its employees are "ready to start the school year," and, additionally, that the results of "general exams for the twelfth grade will be announced tonight."

Minister of Higher Education Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research Aram Mohammed indicated that university campuses will also begin their first semester in mid-September.

After the cancellation of in-person classes in 2020, students now attending many of the Kurdistan Region’s universities and colleges will begin the new academic year on campus.

Read More: In-person classes to resume in September at Kurdistan Region colleges, universities: Official

September classes will resume on campus "if the health situation does not significantly deteriorate further," read a ministry statement that also stressed the vital importance of health precautions like masking and social distancing.

Editing by John J. Catherine