No turning back: Syrian Kurds reshape region with books and schools
The battle over education in Rojava where the government in Damascus does not recognize the new curriculum. By Elen Francis.
"In the early days of Syria’s conflict, when Haj Ali and other activists tried introducing a Kurdish class, the government shut down the schools. “With the parents and the students, we broke down the doors,” she said. Months later, state employees returned. Today, she heads an education board running thousands of schools and universities, and teaching adults to read Kurdish. It has built a curriculum in Kurdish, Arabic and the Syriac dialect for pupils to learn in their mother tongue, renouncing the Baathist thinking that championed Arab nationalism in the classroom."