Ebîr Ehmed/JINHA

HESEKÊ – Rojava students and teachers, starting celebrations for the Kurdish language holiday of May 15 in the city of Hesekê, have organized a poetry contest to contribute to making the long-oppressed language a language of literature.

Kurdish has a long literary history, but the recent decades of Syrian state policy means that the primary school students of Hesekê are now learning to read and write literary works in their native language for the first time. The students attended the at times rambunctious competition for Kurdish jokes, tongue twisters and poetry. The five students who passed to the next round will head for the competition on May 15, Kurdish Language Day, in Qamişlo.

"As you know, this people was educated for years in Arabic," said Hesekê Kurdish teacher Rena Esed. "For this reason, it may be a bit difficult for students first starting to learn Kurdish. We're trying to help them be more motivated with these competitions."

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