Iraq: Social dialogue leads to a roadmap for quality education
During their meeting with the Education Minister of the Iraqi region of Kurdistan, leaders the Kurdistan Teachers’ Union (KTU) were able to address several crucial educational issues. This led to the elaboration of a roadmap aiming to improve the educational system.
The following topics were comprehensively discussed between the KTU delegation – KTU president Abdalwahed M. Haje and several members of the KTU Bureau – and Alan Hama Saeed, Education Minister of Education of Kurdistan:
- Compensating time lost during the past two years during COVID-19 and quarantine periods.
- Training teachers and developing their capacities to use new teaching methods and techniques.
- Paying attention to the behaviour of students and preparing their return to the classroom when, over the past two years, many of them have been using computers or smartphones for remote education, but also for other activities unrelated to the educational process.
- Reviewing educational curricula by creating a specialised committee for each subject, with the presence of a KTU representative in the committees.
- Liaising with education institutions’ administrators, evaluating the needs of the school, and balancing the teacher/student ratio to avoid that some schools have too many teachers while others have too few.
To better overcome the challenges identified and achieve the goals set, a roadmap was prepared to improve the education process.
Upcoming conference on education
KTU went on to propose holding a conference on education.
The Minister accepted the proposal. He stressed the importance of his Ministry’s cooperation for the success of the conference. The Minister agreed that this conference was crucial to address challenges encountered by the Kurdistan education system over the past two years and work towards a return to ‘normalcy’.
He also mentioned the need to communicate with the Culture, Finances, and Interior Ministries and cooperate with them to plan the use of social media, television channels and satellite channels to better reach students, raise awareness about psychological difficulties encountered by them and ensure their well-being.
