JINHA

QAMIŞLO – Teachers in the Rojava city of Qamişlo received their certificates in Kurdish language in a ceremony yesterday that coincided with May 15, celebrated as Kurdish Language Day.

In Rojava, where Kurdish has never before been a language of education, Kurdish women dressed in their traditional clothes to celebrate their graduation ceremony at the Kurdish Language Foundation in the city's stadium. The name of the site—March 12 Stadium—honors the Kurds killed in a Syrian regime attack on a crowd of civilians at a football game just before the revolution. Now, just a few years later, Kurds are receiving their diplomas and participating in the autonomous reorganization of life in Rojava, including through new multilingual educational programs.

"The greatest revolution in the Rojava revolution is that of language," said Muhabbat Abdullah, director of Qamişlo's Kurdish Language Academy. She noted that the opening of Kurdish academies across Rojava marked a rejuvenation of culture and language against the long oppression of the Kurdish language.

Hiva Helil attended the ceremony with her child in her lap. She attended the Kurdish program with her child by her side. Hiva, who noted that no woman should let having a child stop her from pursuing an education, gave classes in Arabic and computer science before the revolution. She has a degree in administration.

"Now that I've graduated I'm thinking of working as a Kurdish language teacher," she said.

(zk-rs/mg/cm)