Holding its 41st meeting in the presence of the Kurdistan’s Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Dr. Aram Qadr, the Kurdistan Teachers’ Union (KTU) Executive Council focused on the start of the new academic year and took stock of activities undertaken since they last met. They also called on the government to give the new academic year extra attention and to allocate an increased budget to public education.
The KTU Executive Council presented public authorities with the following demands:
- Teachers' promotions, which have been put on hold since 2015 due to alleged budgetary issues, must resume.
- Money that has been cut or saved in a saving system since 2015 must be added to the teachers' account numbers to help them meet their various needs.
- Launching a programme of training sessions for educators to help them familiarise themselves with digital learning, psychology, and teaching approaches. Such a programme has not been run by the government for over 12 years.
- Reducing the disparities between public and private schools. In this regard, KTU leaders requested that the government fully funds the educational system, so that citizens would be encouraged to send their children to public schools.
Minister Qadr then presented his ministry's objectives for the upcoming academic year.
Reaffirming his intention to work with KTU in any way possible, he assured the education unionists that, in relation to the new academic year:
- The ministry is making every effort necessary to make vocational education a high priority, working at creating professional guidelines in this sector.
- To cover the academics’ gap in the universities of Kurdistan, the ministry will set up a position for a responsible officer studying higher education and scientific research to improve the level and quality of higher education during the upcoming academic year.
- Kurdistan's institutions welcome students who get the required grades and offer them free tuition.
- The ministry is doing its very best to give the colleges all the necessary tools for teaching and learning.