By Barzan Muhammad
Erbil – Kurdish students who enrolled in Baghdad universities last year demand authorities to transfer them to universities in the provinces under the control of the Kurdistan Regional Government.
Kurdish universities were not able to accommodate all high school graduates in the Kurdish region, as the result some students were accepted in universities in Baghdad. Now after studying for one year and spending life in the volatile capital many of them want to come home.
The students are demanding the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Studies to place them to universities in the Kurdish areas. Last week a group of these students organized a peaceful demonstration in front of the Council of Ministers demanding the authorities to act immediately because the academic year has already started.
“The officials at the (Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Studies) didn’t keep the promises that they gave us,” said Hiwa Muhammad, who was among the protesters. “We called the Prime Minister to act and resolve the issue of...because we are not ready at all to return Baghdad for study.”
Karwan Hussein Hassan, a 25-years old second year student in the Kurdish Department of the Baghdad university, said that authorities have accepted their call for transferring but there are strings attached. For example, he said, he has been told that he can’t continue his study at the second stage at a Kurdish Department in any Kurdish universities. He said he has been told that he has to go to a technical institute and start from first stage, “I don’t think even a child would issue such a decision,” he said complaining about the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Studies.
“We hope that they will send us to a college (where we can study in our majors),” he said.
© Rudaw
