In an interview with Kewser Doqo, Co-Chair of the Education Committee in North and East Syria, the campaign ‘Women Defend Rojava’ talked about the new education program launched by the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic.

This educational program will be broadcast in the coming days via Internet and television, so that the teaching and education of the pupils won’t be stopped despite the closed schools, as all public institutions have been closed due to preventive measures against the spread of the Coronavirus.

Can you tell us about the work of the North and East Syria Education Committee?

The Education Committee follows and monitors all educational activities throughout North and East Syria. All regional committees and education committees are affiliated to it and carry out their work on this basis.

The work of the Education Committee includes all education from primary-school to high school. The coordination of the universities is also linked to this committee. However, the work of the university is organized differently, there is a co-chair of each university. Rojava University in Cizre and Kobanê University coordinate their work under the umbrella of the Education Committee of North and East Syria.

We read in the news about the education project on television and would like to know more about it.

Due to the spread of the coronavirus and its threat to the world, we as the Education Committee in North and East Syria have decided to close the schools in this region in order not to endanger the health of the children.

We have developed this project so that our children will not remain without education. We know that the schools were closed for one month at the beginning of the year because of the invasion and attacks of the Turkish state, especially the schools in the border areas. This had an impact on and affected the education of the children.

It was important for us to develop a project so that school lessons can be continued from home, so that children do not remain without education. Our project is published under the name “Dibistana Malê” (Home School) on the Internet and on the television channel Rojava TV. On YouTube the program will be available continuously and on the channel Rojava TV it will be broadcasted 6 hours a day. These lessons are aimed for children of primary and secondary level, but we will first concentrate on primary. We will mainly teach natural sciences such as physics, chemistry, mathematics as well as Kurdish, Arabic and English, and then publish other areas.

Why was it important for the Education Committee to develop such a program?

Due to the current situation of Coronavirus pandemic it was generally decided to stop all work including schools. Schools are places where many students come together and meet and therefore there was a great danger for the students, so the schools were closed.

The schools have been closed for a long time. From March 14th until today children do not go to school. If, according to the Ministry of Health, the health situation continues as before, the work will not start again for the time being, so we may not be able to reopen the school soon.

That is why we have started this project, because it is very important that children are not left without education and that they can follow it from home. Even if the families support the children, children still need teachers who can reach them at home via television or the internet.

How do the families and the children react to this program? What do you want to tell the families?

So far the reactions of families and children have been positive. They are glad that such things are being promoted. Our aim is to make this project accessible to every household and to all pupils.

What we want to say is that parents and big siblings who are at home should also be helpful and take care of the children so that we can run the project successfully. We hope that the families will support us.

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