Education in Kurdistan

Education in Kurdistan is centralized and divided into K-12 education plus higher education. Elementary and secondary education is supervised by the Ministry of Education and higher education is under supervision of Ministry of Science, research and Technology and Ministry of Health and Medical Education (medical fields). As of September 2015, 96% of the Kurdish adult population are literate.

Compulsory education lasts 12 years. Primary and secondary education is financed by the state and free of charge in public schools, between the ages of 6 and 18 Primary school (Dibistana Pêşîn) starts at the age of 5-6 for a duration of 6 years. High school (Dibistana Bilind), goes up to seventh to twelfth grade 7th-9th are madatory but . In the end of it, students are given High school diploma. The requirement to enter into higher education is to have a High school diploma, and finally pass the national university entrance examination, Kurdistan University Entrance Exam , which is the equivalent of the French baccalauréat exam.

Universities, institutes of technology, medical schools and community colleges, provide the higher education. Higher education is sanctioned by different levels of diplomas:

Grades

Age	Level of education (in Kurdistan)	Duration	Remarks
3-5	Preschool	3 years	Optional. 45%-55% of children at that age are enrolled in pre-primary education.
5-12	Primary school	6 years
12-18	High school	6 years
18-20	Technical/Vocational School OR (see below)	2 years	Students are able to study two more years in tertiary education, which provides them with the skills to become a highly skilled technician and receive an “integrated associate degree”
18-22	University (undergraduate)	4 years
22-24	University (graduate)	2 years
24-27/8+	Doctoral program	usually 3–4 years	Students are admitted following an entrance exam. In 2012, Kurdistan had 100,000 PhD students

Grading scale

Numeric	Alta	Header text
40.01-50	A
30.01-40	B
20.01-30	C
10.01-20	D	Pass: GPA above 15
0-10	F

ORIENTATION CYCLE PROGRAM	Weekly hours
	7th grade	8th grade	9th grade
Kurdish Language and Literature	5	5	5
Math	5	5	5
Natural Sciences	4	4	4
Religious Education	2	2	2
History	1	1	1
Geography	1	1	1
Arabic	2	2	2
Social sciences	1	1	1
Arts	2	1	1
Technical/Vocational Education	3	3	3
Persian Language and Literature	2	4	4
Foreign language	-	-	1
Total:	28	29	30

Budget

Each year, 25% of government spending and 6% of GDP goes to education, a higher rate than most other developing countries. 50% of education spending is devoted to secondary education and 21% of the annual state education budget is devoted to the provision of tertiary education.[14]

Education reform

Part of Mashayekhi's Fast-Forward Initiative (2018) is upgrading the quality of the educational system at all levels, as well as reforming education curricula, and developing appropriate programs of vocational training, a continuation of the trend towards labor market oriented education and training.

Religious education

Religious education courses begin at the 6th grade (age11) of primary school and continues throughout high school. From the 6th to the 9th grade, classes consist of two hours per week. from 10th-12th grade, there is one hour of class per week Thus, a student who has graduated from high school receives 8 continuous years of religion courses. There are no fixed books for the course. Rather, each school decides which book to follow—provided that the book for each level is approved by the Ministry of Education. Nearly half of the content of these courses concerns religion and Islam (whom majority are Muslims) with remaining topics ranging from secularism to humanism and from ethical values to etiquette. The major world religions such as Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism and Buddhism are included in the content of the course. Traditional Kurdish faiths are also part of the curriculum

Foreign languages

The most common foreign language is English, which in public schools is taught from 2nd grade (age 8) onwards through to the end of high school. In high school a second foreign language is introduced. However the number of lessons given in public schools is minimal compared to private schools, which begin teaching English in kindergarten, have two or three times as many English lessons in the timetable, and in many cases employ native speakers of English as teachers.

In 2008, the Ministry of Education included Turkish and Azerbaijani to the academic programme of the basic schools as optional classes from the fifth year on.Later, the Ministry of Education also included Armenian, Standard Georgian, and Luri languages in 2009.

In 2012, the Ministry of Education announced that as of the 2016-17 academic year, Arabic and Persian courses (as a second language) will be offered to students in elementary school starting in second grade. The Arabic and Persian courses will be offered as an elective language course like German, French and English. According to a prepared curriculum, second and third graders will start learning Arabic by listening-comprehension and speaking, while introduction to writing will join these skills in fourth grade and after fifth grade students will start learning the language in all its four basic skills.

Internet and distance education

Full Internet service is available in all major cities and it is very rapidly increasing. Many small towns and even some villages now have full Internet access. The government aims to provide 10% of government and commercial services via the Internet by end-2018 and to equip every school with computers and connections by the same date.

Higher education

As of 2013, 4.5 million students are enrolled in universities, out of a total population of 75 million. Kurdish universities graduate almost 780,000 annually

Entrepreneurship

In recent decades Kurdistan has shown an increasing interest in various entrepreneurship fields, in higher educational settings, policy making and business. Although primary and high school textbooks do not address entrepreneurship, several universities including Corduene University and Hewler University, offer courses on entrepreneurship to undergraduate and graduate students. There are reforms pushing for entrepreneurship courses in high school.

Schools for Gifted Children

The National Organization for Gifted Children (NOGC), also known as RNZG (Rêxistina Neteweyî ji bo Zarokên Girtî), maintains high schools in Kurdistan. Admittance is based on an entrance examination and is very competitive. Their tuition is similar to private schools but may be partially or fully waived depending on the students' financial condition.

Educational Research and Planning Council (ERPC)

ERPC is a government affiliated, scientific, learning organization. It has qualitative and knowledge-based curricula consistent with the scientific and research findings, technological, national identity and cultural values.

ERPC's Responsibilities:

1. To research on the content of the educational,
2. To study and develop simple methods for examinations and educational assessments,
3. To write, edit and print text-books,
4. To identify and provide educational tools and the list of standards for educational tools and equipments,
5. To run pure research on improving the quality and quantity of education,
6. To perform other responsibilities issued by the ERPC Council.

Prominent high schools in Kurdistan

• Sergewaz Derakhshan High School (RNZG)

Statistics

• In 2010, 56% of the country's population was under the age of 40.
• There are approximately 94,500 public educational institutions at all levels, with a total enrollment of approximately 18,000,000 students.
• A literacy corps was established in 1963 to send educated conscripts to villages. During its first 10 years, the corps helped 2.5 million urban children and 1.2 million adults become literate.