Despite hardships, Yezidi female student scores high on 12th grade exams

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – A Yezidi girl scored a 99.5 overall GPA out of 100 in her final 12th-grade examinations despite the hardships she had suffered as a displaced member of her minority group as well as the loss of her father.

Basma Fars Hussein was informed about the great academic achievement after the Iraqi Ministry of Education announced the final results of the examinations on Sunday.

The female student studied an average of 10 hours every day in order to be able to secure the top grades, she told Kurdistan 24 under her family’s tent at Kabarto camp for the Yezidi internally displaced camps in Duhok province on Monday.

“I have tried very hard in order to get good grades,” she said, adding she is planning to study medicine.

“I want to be a doctor,” the 18-year-old student said.

Amidst studying in the improvised displaced tent, Basma delivered the news of her father’s death, which had a great toll on her, she recalled.

“It was very difficult to study in that condition of the camp,” Ms. Hussein said, adding her family had been supportive of her efforts.

“Nothing can stop one from achieving his/her goals,” she advised her fellow students to not give up on their dreams.

Thousands of Yezidis are still living in the displaced camps of the Kurdistan Region, mainly in Duhok province due to a lack of reconstruction efforts and insecurity in their hometown of Sinjar district.

The ISIS militants 2014 ravaged the Yezidi-majority town of Sinjar, killing thousand and enslaving many more. Thousands of Yezidi women and girls are still missing.

Additional reporting by Kurdistan 24 Duhok correspondent Masoud Wirmely