The PUK's efforts assist 12,000 teachers and workers in the Kurdish study sector

Kurdistan 03:15 PM - 2023-01-06

PUK logo on the right and the logo of the Iraqi Education Ministry on the left.

The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) offers yet another service to the areas that Baghdad and Erbil are at odds over. The salary payment of Kurdish study teachers in the disputed territories has been transferred to the Iraqi Education Ministry thanks to the efforts of the PUK and a Kurdish Teacher states that "the decision would ease the concerns of Kurdish study instructors and employees in the disputed areas." 

The PUK continues to work to advance Kurdish education in the disputed areas, and one further service it provided to these regions is the transfer of wage payments for Kurdish studies teachers in the disputed areas to the Iraqi Education Ministry.

The disputed areas, located north of Iraq, are areas defined by Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution as being Arabized during the rule of the former dictatorial Iraqi Ba'ath regime.

The Iraqi Council of Ministers has sent an official letter to the Ministry of Education requesting that the procedures for the transfer of salary payment to teachers from the disputed areas to the Iraqi Ministry of Education be completed, according to Sabah Habib Qadir, the second deputy head of the Education Committee of the Iraqi Parliament and a member of the PUK faction.

"For this purpose, a committee was established by the Iraqi Ministry of Education on December 26th, 2022, was given 52 weeks to carry out the decision of the Iraqi Council of Ministers," Qadir told PUKMEDIA.

The PUK has been pushing for this move for six years

"We have been pushing for this move since 2017, but the implementation of our demand was delayed due to technical reasons and lack of budget," Qadir said.

President Bafel fulfilled his promise to Kirkuk and the disputed areas

Earlier, Parwin Fatih Hamid, director of the Kurdish Education Supervisory Unit in Kirkuk, told PUKMEDIA: “"During the elections, President Bafel visited Kirkuk and met with the Teachers Union. We asked for the future Iraqi government to take into account Kurdish education because this issue is very important for the Kurds, Kirkuk, and the PUK. He fulfilled his promise to Kirkuk and will no longer allow Kurdish teachers in the disputed areas to become victims of conflicts between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the Iraqi government."

The decision will solve the problems of Kurdish study teachers and employees

"The Kurdish study teachers and employees in the disputed territories will no longer face challenges, so the KRG and the Kurdistan Region's Ministry of Education should applaud the decision," Hamid said.

More than 12,000 teachers and other employees of the Kurdish study sector in the disputed areas are currently being paid by the KRG, while the Iraqi Ministry of Education is in charge of their administrative matters. The salary payments for the Kurdish study teachers will be transferred to the Ministry of Education thanks to the work of PUK President Bafel Jalal Talabani with the new Iraqi cabinet and the PUK fraction in the Iraqi parliament.
 

Translated from Kurdish and edited by Hiran Halwan
PUKMEDIA