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Iraq: trade union leaders bring educators' views to the Kurdistan Parliament

published 8 August 2019 updated 4 March 2022

Meeting with the Kurdistan Parliament’s President, Deputy President and Secretary, leaders of the Kurdistan Teachers Union urged Parliament to work towards free quality education for all.

As the new parliament opened, Kurdistan Teachers Union (KTU) President Abdul Wahed Mohamed Haji stressed the slogan of the KTU, “Quality and Free Education For All”. He urged Parliament leaders to act on that priority, which is also in line with international policies and commitments.

According to Haji, “our union’s aim is to create a healthy and educated society in which democracy, human rights, social justice, children’s rights and gender equality are implemented”.

To achieve these goals, KTU urged the parliamentarians to:

  • Consider education a priority for the government's work program.
  • Align the education budget with international standards and paragraph (4) of the United Nations Post 2015 Agenda to: build education establishments according to urgent needs; provide teachers with continuous professional training, so that they can perform their educational and professional duties in the best possible manner; make effective change in the curriculum of education in accordance with scientific development in the world; and develop student competencies in modern technology to further students’ potential in science and ICT.
  • Pay greater attention to and place more value on vocational and technical education, so education can equip students with vital skills while helping the economy.
  • Limit private education, which currently has a significant, negative impact on the quality of education.

For his part, the President of the Parliament, Dr. Rewas Faeq, highly valued the KTU role and its efforts to implement its projects and proposals.

Faeq went on to underline that “the Parliament is constantly cooperating through the joint committees of education and higher education in any field that needs the education union expertise and views”.