The Absence of Education in the Kurdistan Region

Diyar Harki

It is undeniable that education is the foundation of progress, stability, and a dignified life for any society. Every society that has achieved prosperity has done so through education, and every society that has collapsed has paid the price of its absence. When I speak about education in the Kurdistan Region, I do so knowing that this subject itself has become sensitive and dangerous to address, because exposing the truth challenges those in power.

Education must be examined from two inseparable perspectives.

Family Education
The beginning and end of every society lies within the family. A healthy society is built upon sound upbringing, while corruption grows from corrupted family education. A well-raised individual becomes a constructive member of society; a neglected or distorted upbringing produces destruction. As our people say, “A great river flows from a small spring.” The roots of today’s social collapse lie in the early stages of upbringing something the authorities have deliberately undermined.

Education and Instruction in Schools
Schools are the second home of every individual, the gateway into society. Teachers and educational institutions have historically been the engine of social change, justice, and resistance against dictatorship. Across the world, oppressive systems have fallen through the awareness created by educated teachers, students, and intellectuals.

In the Kurdistan Region, however, the absence of real education has become the cornerstone of societal collapse.

After the 1991 uprising and the fall of the former Iraqi regime, power fell into the hands of those known as the so-called “mountain revolutionaries.” Until today, the same authority continues to rule. Many of these individuals came from backgrounds where education was absent or devalued, and many never completed proper schooling themselves. Instead of building a society based on education, they feared it because education threatens unchecked power.

To protect their party positions and personal authority, they embraced corruption as a governing tool. Their first target was education. Through partisan media and television channels, they weakened family values, undermined parental responsibility, and promoted content that hollowed out Kurdish family structure. Dubbed programs and propaganda replaced ethical upbringing, turning social decay into a normalized daily reality.

At the same time, they attacked the education system directly. Teachers were deliberately stripped of their dignity, authority, and status, because the ruling parties understood one crucial truth: teachers have always been at the forefront of protest and change, from the February 17 demonstrations to today. For this reason, teachers were transformed into enemies.

Violence, harassment, and intimidation against teachers especially by students linked to ruling parties became routine and went unpunished. Party protection shielded perpetrators. Teachers were beaten, threatened, tortured, dismissed, imprisoned, and in some cases killed. Speaking about this reality carries personal risk, yet silence would mean complicity.

The dual-party ruling system succeeded in weakening education to the point where ignorance, propaganda, and fear dominate society. Social media, instead of being a space for awareness, has become a tool to dismantle families and normalize violence. Every day in the Kurdistan Region, we witness horrific incidents: killings, executions, assassinations, psychological terror, and political violence. Citizens are murdered over social or political disagreements, dissent is silenced, and the rule of law is absent while party-affiliated criminals are protected.

The absence of education has reached such a level that people no longer feel safe in their own lives, families, or identities. At every moment, unjust and premature death looms over individuals. Fear has replaced certainty, and survival has replaced hope.

Despite this reality, the ruling parties continue to present the Kurdistan Region and Iraq as models of stability and progress through their propaganda outlets. But even a brief look at social media reveals the truth: a society drowning in insecurity, violence, and despair. Evidence of killings and repression fills Kurdish and Iraqi platforms, while citizens are crushed under psychological pressure, political suffocation, and partisan domination.

This reality weighs heavily on the conscience of every individual who dares to think, speak, or question. And writing these words is itself an act of risk.