Schools in North Kurdistan are empty as the 2014-2015 school year begins. Kurdish children who want to be educated in their mother tongue will boycott the schools during this week.

The one-week school boycott initiated under the leadership of the KCK language and training committee, TZP-Kurdi, KURDİ DER, Mala Piştgiriyê ya Zimanê Kurdî (MAPER), Education Union, Human Rights Association, KESK, DTK, DBP and HDP started today.

Classrooms in schools were empty in many cities of North Kurdistan, especially in the cities of Amed, Hakkari, Şırnak, Van and Mardin.

In the districts of Bağlar and Yenişehir in Amed, children ran to playgrounds rather than schools.

In the Şemdinli and Gever (Yüksekova) districts of Hakkari, participation in the boycott is reported to be 100%.

The highest participation in the school boycott is in Gever and Şemdinli districts of Hakkari this year just like every year. In Gever almost all the schools were boycotted. The students didn’t come to any schools, especially the boarding schools, primary schools and high schools. While most of the 163 schools in the towns, hamlets and villages were boycotted, it was observed that only the teachers, executives of the schools and the children of soldiers and police are attending school.

Very few students came to school in Hakkari, where there are over 1,000 students. While few students came to school for the official opening ceremony of the school of Şehit Selahattin, some families were called by the executives of the school to join the opening ceremony.

60% participation in Van

There was 60% participation in the boycott in Van. In the Hacıbekir neighbourhood there was 100% participation. Eğitim-Sen branch representative Şakir Talay said there had been a strong turnout by people demanding mother tongue education.

In some schools in Van the classrooms remained empty. Some teachers combined classes to give the impression that the participation in the boycott was low.

The boycott affected the high schools in Nusaybin. While no students were observed in the Nusaybin Atatürk High school, the students of the primary schools especially the students of Bülent Pekdemir, Fatih, Oğushan, Gazi Paşa, Edip Mungan, Yıldırım primary schools only came to school in order to take their books. Muş and its districts and the Suruç district of Urfa also joined the boycott.