Education unionists from the Kurdistan region of Iraq have reaffirmed the need for public authorities to allocate adequate funding for quality education and teachers.
Following up on recommendations discussed during the 2018 Education International (EI) Arab Countries Cross Regional Structure (ACCRS) Conference, the Kurdistan Teachers’ Union (KTU) organised on 9 March in Erbil, in cooperation with the Pay Institute for Education and Development, a conference attended by a group of experts in the field of education, including higher education.
The conference discussed several important topics, including:
- Main challenges facing education;
- Education curricula and the need to change it in order to fit with the current situation;
- Teaching methods and ways to better prepare teachers professionally;
- Admission of students to universities, trying to balance their education wishes for university departments and colleges with their potential;
- Increased attention brought to technical, music and sport courses. In some educational centres, these subjects are neglected, leading to students disengaging with school and education as they do not meet their aspirations, and viewing school as a prison.
- Absence of social workers in many of the schools where their presence is necessary to solve many of the daily problems of students.
“The government should treat education, including higher education as a priority, and allocate an appropriate budget to enable education institutions to implement the UN sustainable development goal 4. In addition, focus should be given to developing quality education curricula and teacher professional development courses,” KTU President Abdalwahed Haje emphasised.