Education and School Psychology in Northern Iraq’s Kurdish
Region
A System Poised for Change
Amanda Clinton and Karwan Aref
International media coverage overwhelmingly portrays Iraq
as a nation of violent conflict resulting from a combination of the presence of
American-led coalition forces, an unstable interim government, and armed
militias. What remains unseen and virtually unmentioned is the contagious
optimism-charged energy pervading northern Iraq’s Kurdish region since the end
of Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship, which lasted over twenty years. The region of
Kurdistan, now freed from the oppression that characterized the previous Iraqi
government, is undergoing rapid and significant change across many realms,
including education. Efforts are being made to shift from a rigid elementary
and secondary-level instructional system based on teacher dissemination of
information via hour-long lectures by “experts” to a more student-centered learning
system in which children are actively involved in constructing knowledge. This
article addresses these efforts at educational reform in northern Iraq’s
Kurdistan region and potential for the future development of school psychology.
The history of Kurdistan spans from ancient times to the
present day. Currently, the Kurdish peoples inhabit the adjacent geographic
regions of northern Iraq – the area discussed in the present article – as well
as southern Turkey, eastern Syria, and western Iran. The Kurdish population in
the Middle East is unknown, but the number of Kurds living in northern Iraq is
estimated at 15-20% of Iraq’s total population, or approximately half a million
persons. Kurdish, which is related to a sub-group of the Iranian language, is spoken
in Kurdistan.
During Saddam Hussein’s regime from 1968 until 2003, Iraqi
Kurds experienced violent oppression. As ruler of Iraq, Saddam Hussein
established tight control over the Kurdish region. In 1988, Hussein committed
the “Anfal” genocide campaign against the Kurds,
mobilizing Iraqi troops in northern Iraq. Atrocities committed by Hussein’s
troops included destruction and of thousands of Kurdish villages and the
displacement of their residents into inadequate camps, as well as numerous
cases of the use of chemical weapons against Kurdish civilians. Finally,
approximately 182,000 Kurds were taken to remote sites and summarily executed.
In terms of education, Hussein attempted to repress the
Kurdish culture by refusing to allow the study of the Kurdish language.
Instead, Arabic was emphasized in the school system and children were not
permitted to learn in Kurdish in government schools.
Thankfully, decades of suffering appear to have created a
spirit of strength and resilience in Kurdish people, who are responding to the
opportunity for change with palpable energy and optimism. Since the fall of the
Hussein regime in 2003, Kurdistan has solidified its own government and
encouraged economic and social progress, the latter including efforts to change
the educational system.
Education in the Kurdistan Region of
Iraq. Although the Kurdish region is growing in terms of
economic development, the educational system has evolved much more slowly. As a
result, schooling remains highly traditional and oriented toward the system
established by the Baath regime. Currently, children can attend preschool from
1 to 4 years of age, then begin kindergarten when they
are 4 years old and study until the 12th grade. They typically study in two
shifts, one group arriving at 8 a.m. and departing at 12:20 p.m. The second
group arrives at 12:30 p.m. and studies until 4:45 p.m. The school week begins
on Sunday and concludes on Thursday, since Friday is
the Muslim holy day their weekend begins accordingly and includes Saturday.
At all levels of education, children remain in the same
classroom during the school day. However, their teachers rotate by subject.
Thus, a child would receive math from one instructor, who moves to another
section of students at the end of their hour-long lesson, as another arrives to
give classes in another topic, such as history. In effect, an elementary-aged
child in primary grades may have as many as five teachers per day. Those of
upper elementary grades typically receive classes from as many as six teachers
per day.
Teaching methods tend to be oriented toward rote
presentation of material by teachers. Typically, teachers walk around the
classroom while reading their notes aloud. Some sit at a desk in front of the
classroom to read their material. Students are expected to write down
information presented verbatim – or near to - and to copy the images, equations
or other details as they are presented on the chalkboard. Although this depends
on the specific educator, interaction, even as basic as asking questions,
between teacher and student is limited. Learning activities that engage the
child in acquiring new information, such as interactive lessons or
child-centered instruction, are rarely observed. A handful of exceptions to
this style can be observed in projects aimed at educational reform, one of
which is discussed below.
University-based teacher training programs focus on
academic content and offer little or no guidance on methodology. Individuals
who study to become teachers typically arrive at their required courses where
their instructor sits in front of the room and reads aloud from a textbook.
Topics include Arabic, religion, Kurdish, math, geography, and science such as
physics, chemistry and biology. More recently, the Kurdish Ministry of Education
has established teacher training courses, as has the University of Salahaddin in Erbil. These offer instruction on teaching
methodology rather than exclusively on core content. Other universities in Duhok and Sulaimany endeavor to
do the same.
KOMAK and the Future of Education in
Kurdistan. The non-profit organization KOMAK (the meaning in Kurdish
is multiple and includes help, backing, steady, support, prop, and sponsor) was
founded in 1997 as a joint Swedish-Norwegian endeavor. KOMAK counts on the
volunteer efforts of members, the majority of whom are Kurdish immigrants
living in Scandinavia, including Norway and Sweden. KOMAK’s
aims including supporting education and the development of democracy and a
civil society in Kurdistan. Specific stated goals include eradicating
illiteracy, improving education, working toward equality for men, women, and
children and promoting justice. Current KOMAK projects in Kurdistan range from
reorganizing schools and training teachers to the establishment of community
centers for youth to civic activities such as establishing trash collection
services training children and adults.
KOMAK has initiated an ambitious teacher training program
that is designed to re-invent education in Kurdistan. Their schools provide
teachers training in educational theory, methods and practice, as well as
democratic, rather than punitive, behavior management. Additionally, KOMAK aims
to establish schools that provide psychological services to children, including
special education evaluation and placement as well as mental health
interventions. These services are of particular import given the lack of
opportunities for individuals with disabilities, as well as the significant
psychosocial needs of children as a result of a repressive political regime
followed by war trauma.
KOMAK schools are designed so that children have a single
classroom teacher, rather than independent teachers
who rotate from room to room and, therefore, rarely develop relationships with
their students. KOMAK schools also include social skills and problem-solving
training programs in addition to educational practices based on active learning
and application of knowledge, rather than rote memorization. Furthermore,
teachers are taught to establish clear classroom rules and to use reward
systems to manage behavior rather than striking or humiliating students.
Psychology in the Schools. The
educational system established by the Baath regime was one in which students
had to pass each grade according to educational curricular standards.
Otherwise, they repeat the grade. An elementary-aged child may repeat the same
grade twice, at which time he is expelled from school. Effectively, the school
system provides a report to the child’s parents in which they explain that
their son or daughter is not capable of continued study. These children stay
home and typically work. For example, a young boy who does not meet the minimum
academic requirements to continue studying may help his father as a mechanic or
a daughter could assist with shopping. Until the present, child labor has been
very common in Iraq.
Children who experience sufficient success in the Kurdish
educational system to reach high school can repeat the same grade twice from
9th-12th grades. If they fail after two attempts they cannot enroll in day
classes but are permitted to study in night school, which is free of cost.
Educational options for children with
disabilities remains limited. In three of Kurdistan’s
largest cities – Erbil, Sulaimany and Duhok - private schools exist for children who are blind or
deaf or severely impaired. In order to access these services, a specific
medical report is required. Furthermore, parents must pay for transportation,
which is often of great distance and significant cost. Students with learning
disabilities stay in their local schools and are placed in a separate class.
They remain at their indicated educational level (elementary, intermediate or
high school) with the same teacher until aging out and, effectively, can no
longer continue to study.
The opportunities and need for sensitizing classroom
teachers in Kurdistan to the individual needs and differences of children is,
clearly, great. As such, the aperture for training educators about topics in
which school psychologists possess expertise is wide. Teachers and educational
specialists, as well as coordinators from organizations such as KOMAK, are
eager to learn more about behavior, learning and cognition, family-school
partnerships, mental health issues and education, and special needs, among others.
Conclusions. At
the present time, interest in improving education in Kurdistan is strong and
its professionals are motivated for change. Organizations such as KOMAK
recognize the importance of capturing this energy and enhancing learning for
children in an effort to write a chapter in the country’s history that provides
opportunities for all children to learn. Most certainly, school psychology will
be a key factor in this process of educational growth.