KRG sets example with decision to welcome Syrian refugees into public education: UNHCR
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – On Monday, a delegation from UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency visited Raber Primary School in Kasnazan town, Erbil Governorate, where students from refugee and local communities attend school together.
With the start of the 2022/2023 academic school year, the Ministry of Education (MoE) of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) introduced the Refugee Education Integration Policy (REIP) to support Syrian refugee children to access quality, inclusive and sustainable education through the public education system.
"The policy aims at strengthening the inclusion and participation of refugees in community life in the KRI; and will be implemented gradually, starting with the first to fourth grades in the current academic year," the UNCHR said in a press release.
In addition, the MoE recruited more than 400 qualified refugee teachers to help public schools in coping with these additional students. "This provides opportunities for these qualified teachers to contribute to the society that welcomed them," the UNHCR said.
"Through cooperation with partners like KRG and UNICEF and Intersos we provide Sorani language courses for students , parents and refugee teachers and advocacy," Firas Al-Khateeb, Spokesman and Communication Officer of the UNHCR Iraq in Erbil, told Kurdistan 24.
The delegation, led by Jean-Nicolas Beuze, the Representative of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Iraq, visited the school to observe the achievements of this much-welcomed policy.
At Rebar public school where for the first time, 29 Syrian refugee children were enrolled.
— Jean-Nicolas Beuze (@jnbeuze) November 14, 2022
Teachers - including refugee teachers - parents and children from both Syria and KRI communities hail this policy as a success.
Thanks to @Kurdistan Min of Education for his leadership. pic.twitter.com/lj5DIEQQDp
"Teachers - including refugee teachers - parents and children from both Syria and KRI communities hail this policy as a success. Thanks to @Kurdistan
Min of Education for his leadership," Beuze tweeted.
"This positive step towards inclusion paves the way for refugee students to pursue higher education and work opportunities. It will help them lead prosperous lives and contribute to the communities in KRI (Kurdistan Region of Iraq) which welcomed them,” Beuze said in a statement.
“We thank the people and the Government in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, especially the Minister of Education, who decided to implement this new policy: this completes the remarkable support given to refugees in KRI.”
Around 270,000 Syrian refugees and asylum-seekers reside in KRI. Most of them are Kurds from Syria.
The first implementation phase of the REIP is targeting grades one to four in the academic year 2022/23, which represent some 30,100 children.
From data available to UNHCR’s partners in mid-October 2022, the school enrolment rate of refugee children in KRI in grades one to four has seen an increase up to 9%.
UNHCR, in coordination with education partners and the Directorates of Education, provides Kurdish language classes to parents, teachers and students in grades 1 to 4; and invests in school infrastructures.