SHORT CUTS EAST KURDISTAN

Kurdish cultural center shut down in Shno

Pdki source . 12-1o-2013 – Shno: Iran shut down yet another Kurdish cultural center. The city council of Oshnavia (Shno in Kurdish) shut down the Fakheri Razy cultural center last week. The Fakhri Razi center, which is part of Soma educational society, has helped some of 150 Kurds to learn reading and writing in Kurdish their during the past 18 months.

Soma educational society was established in Mahabad and soon opened branches in the cities of Bokan, Baneh, Saqiz, Sanandaj, Qorveh, Shno, Piranshar and many other Kurdish towns and districts, as a bid to educate Kurds in their mother tongue. Several of these cultural centers, and a cultural center in the city of Ilam and Orumiha have been shut down because they offered education in Kurdish. Although the constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran stipulates that private education in other languages than Persian is allowed, the reality is that the vast majority of the cultural centers that offer education in Kurdish are shut down.

Iran to allow teaching in Kurdish

Basnews 12.10.2013 – Reformist Iranian authorities are paving the way for teaching of mother tongue in the Islamic Republic Iran’s Education Minister, Ali Asghar Fani says: “We have decided to allow the use of different languages in Iranian schools”.  During President Muhammed Khatami’s rule, there had been some steps in this direction, but they were never implemented. According to the BBC, Hassan Rouhani has promised to initiate teaching in Kurdish, Turkish and Arabic in Iranian schools. This is allowed under the Iranian constitution. Iran is considered one of the most diverse countries in the region with Persians making up approximately 44% of the population, ethnic Turks 20%, Arabs 15% and Kurds 10%.