PM Barzani allocates 1.6 billion dinars to the Kurdish schools in Kirkuk

“Although the school buildings belong to the Iraqi Ministry of Education, the KRG Ministry of Education is the one who renovates these schools.”
Prime Minister Masrour Barzani (Photo: KRG)
Prime Minister Masrour Barzani (Photo: KRG)

Erbil (Kurdistan 24) – Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani has allocated a billion and 600 million Iraqi dinars for Kurdish education needs of the Kirkuk province for 2022-2023 on Thursday, according to a statement.

Saman Siwaily, Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) Spokesperson of the Education Ministry announced that part of the 20 billion Iraqi dinars amount allocated by the Prime Minister would go to purchase school supplies throughout Kurdistan, which Kurdish education in Kirkuk would receive one billion and 600 million Iraqi dinars, according to a statement by KRG’s Department of Media and Information.

“The Kurdistan Regional Government sent many supplies and school supplies this year to Kurdish education schools in Kirkuk,” Siwaily added to the statement.

He also said that “the book warehouses of the Ministry of Education send the school curricula to the book warehouses in Kirkuk, and then it will be distributed to the educational centers,” according to the statement.

The spokesperson of the Education Ministry noted that KRG employed 900 teachers so far in Kirkuk, and stressed that, “although the school buildings belong to the Iraqi Ministry of Education, KRG Ministry of Education is the one who renovates these schools.”

Read More: Kurds displaced, some forcibly, from Kirkuk, surrounding areas reach 100,000

Kirkuk is a majority-Kurdish city located in northern Iraq. The city is also populated by Turkmen, Arabs, and a small minority of Assyrians and long has been a center of disputes between these different ethnicities.

On October 16, 2017, Kirkuk was occupied by Iraqi and Iranian-backed Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), which resulted in the displacement of many of its population. Before 2017, Kurdish Peshmerga forces were present in Kirkuk and the Kurdish Asayish.