Most Kurdistan Region students to remain home after Newroz break due to COVID-19 fears

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – With the exception of 12th graders, schools for students in the Kurdistan Region will remain closed after the new year (Newroz) holiday due to rising COVID-19 infections, according to a member of parliament.

Since the onset of the novel coronavirus pandemic in early March 2020 the Kurdistan Region has witnessed a number of rolling school closures and reopening in line with fluctuations in the infection rate.

Health authorities recently warned that coronavirus infections are increasing alarmingly in the Region, mostly the UK-variant of the virus, of which the first cases were confirmed in late February. The Kurdistan Regional Government decided on March 10 to suspend in-person classes at all primary and secondary schools until the end of the Kurdish New Year holiday except for students in grade 12, who have baccalaureate tests at the end of the school year.

Read More: Kurdistan Teachers Union: 20 percent of current COVID-19 infections are students and teachers

“The schools will remain open only for 12th graders as other classes are going to remain halted,” Abdul Salam Dolamari, head of the Kurdistan Parliament’s education committee, said at a press conference on Wednesday.

A government committee, dubbed the High Committee to Combat Coronavirus – consisting of ministries of interior, and health, and governors from the four provinces – meet periodically to decide on containment strategies, including the imposition of lockdowns.

“The committee will decide if there is any change in the decision,” Dolamari told reporters.

Universities, Colleges to Reopen

Universities and colleges across the Region will once again receive students on Sunday, the president of Erbil’s Salahaddin University, Jawhar Fatah, told Kurdistan 24 on Wednesday.

College and university students have already finished their first semester and the “second one will be continued,” Fatah told Kurdistan 24.

Since March 2020, the Kurdistan Region has recorded more than 116,000 COVID-19 cases along with 3,600 deaths, according to the government’s tally.

Read More: COVID-19: Nearly 5,000 new cases in Iraq brings national total to 80,000

Editing by Joanne Stocker-Kelly