PYD Asayish raids private schools in Qamishlo

Yekiti media

This morning, the Asayish of the Democratic Union Party raided several private schools in the Christian-majority city of Qamishlo. The raids took place in the western, central, and Assyrian neighborhoods.

Teachers told Yekiti Media that the forces stormed the classrooms carrying weapons, which frightened the students, most of whom are under the age of ten. They expelled the teachers and students, which led to a fight and verbal altercation between the principals and the armed forces.

Sources confirmed that the gunmen threatened to arrest the principals if the schools reopened.

Among the schools affected were Al-Amal, Fares Al-Khoury, Al-Hurriya, Al-Salam, and others.

In this context, private sources who declined to be named reported that a group of leaders from the Democratic Union Party and affiliated parties had enrolled their children in private Christian schools a few days ago (without disclosing their names) and with special schedules.

In turn, academic Farid Saadoun wrote on his Facebook page: “When the Autonomous Administration forces students to attend its schools, it closes the door of choice to students and places their future and destiny in the hands of uncalculated and unguaranteed bets. Under the pretext that the state curriculum is that of the Baath Party or al-Jolani, poor Newton, Pythagoras, Ibn Rushd, Thales, and Ibn al-Haytham were not lucky enough to join the Baath Party…

Liberalize education and let students choose the curriculum they want, so that they will respect the administration’s curriculum and desire it more than if you force it on them.

The fate of thousands of students in areas controlled by the PYD administration remains unknown, and the PYD is exploiting them in its political bargaining with Damascus, according to observers of Kurdish political affairs.

It should be noted that since the PYD took control of areas from the former Syrian regime, residents and their children have been forced to pay tuition fees due to the prohibition, threats, and intimidation of teachers and parents, and the imposition of its ideological and unrecognized curricula. As a result, dozens of teachers were arrested in schools, institutes, and even in homes where teachers were teaching some students using the Ministry of Education’s curricula, causing thousands of families to emigrate to neighboring countries and Europe.