Parliament holds second reading of articles 61 to 80 of the Bill on Education and Training; Religious Affairs Committee presents findings on Ministry's directive on Koranic learning centres

The Kurdistan Parliament on 4 October 2022 continued the second reading of the Bill on Education and Training, reading articles 61 to 80 on school principals, teachers and other employees, staff councils and school committees.  

Speaker Faiq presided over the sitting, with Deputy Speaker Dr. Hemin Hawrami and Secretary Muna Kahveci alongside her.

Speaker Faiq asked the chair of Parliament’s Endowments and Religious Affairs Committee to give their findings about the Ministry’s recent directive on centres for learning and memorizing the Holy Koran.

The committee chair Hawraman Gacheney (KJG) said, “When the Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs issued letter number 2739 of 18 July 2022 regarding centres for learning and memorizing the Holy Koran in Kurdistan Region, it caused concern and you asked us to follow up on the issue and present our findings here in Parliament to the public.”

Mr. Gachney said that the committee met with the Minister of Endowments and Religious Affairs Dr. Pishtiwan Sadiq and ministry officials, and reached a conclusion that all agreed on: The NGOs that have formal government permission can continue to teach the Holy Koran, and for those NGOs that do not have formal government permission the Ministry will issue a new directive so that they can continue their teaching through cooperation and coordination with the authorities.

In the presence of the KRG Education Minister Alan Hama Saeed, the education and legislative committees read articles 61 to 65 of the Bill on Education and Training, which are the provisions on state education institutions’ principals and vice principals, teachers, officers and other employees, principals’ and vice principals’ responsibilities, appointment and responsibilities of teachers and education counselors.

After a break Parliament continued reading the bill, from articles 66 to 80, on the creation and duties of school staff councils (to periodically monitor and evaluate their performance based on quality assurance and reliability criteria); the criteria for appointing principals, vice principals, teachers, education counselors and other staff; hiring new principals and vice principals; ending principals’ employment; the rights and duties of employees; the distribution of evening classes in state institutions; and state education institutions’ committees for quality assurance, exams, grades, arts, administration, hygiene, etc.

Minister Alan Hama Saeed and the education and legislative explained some points in response to MPs’ comments and questions about those articles.

The Bill on Education and Training consists of more than 180 articles. The second reading of the bill will continue over the next days.