Tensions erupt in Qamishlo over ban on Syrian government education

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) on Wednesday reported that clashes erupted between student protesters and the Rojava Asayish in front of the UN headquarters in Qamishlo.

The SOHR report said that students, their families, and others have staged protests in front of the United Nations headquarters in Al-Qamishli to express their rejection of the decision by the Autonomous Administration of Northeast Syria (AANES) “to ban regime curricula in private schools and institutes.”

The protest was organized without permission from the AANES.

On September 19, SOHR reported that the Asayish summoned several teachers providing extra-curricular courses of regime curriculum to students of middle and high school diplomas (9th and 12th grades) in Al-Darbasiyyah city and other areas in the province of Hasakah.

“Asayish Forces asked these teachers to sign a written commitment obligating them not to continue their extra-curricular courses before obtaining a licence with specific conditions identified by the Autonomous Administration,” the SOHR report said.

The Asayish has not allowed educational institutes and private centres in Al-Qamishli city to teach the Syrian government curriculum.

The Kurdish National Council (KNC), the rival of the Democratic Union Party that dominated the AANES, supported the protest and in a statement on Wednesday said that the “PYD” security forces arrested activists and tried to prevent the protest.

The KNC in an earlier statement condemned the decision of the AANES “to close private institutes and schools, which threatens the educational future of thousands of students from the region” and called on its supporters to support the protest in front of the UN building.