28/08/2019
Minister of Education Meeting:
On August 27th, 2019, his excellency, the Minister of Education of Kurdistan, Mr. Alan Hama Saeed Salih, held a meeting with all private and international school leaders of Kurdistan. Over 200 members of this community participated to her Mr. Alan speak regarding new changes related to these school in Kurdistan. BISK was represented by our principal, Dr. Frano, and Mr. Rebaz, BISK Liaison for Ministry of Education – Kurdistan.
Mr. Alan expressed his determination to stop the waste and corruption within the ministry. We also have a commitment from Mr. Alan that henceforth, our parents will have an improved streamlined process to obtain necessary stamps for school credentials. He also explained teachers who work in public schools and are also employed by a private or international school, must obtain special permission from their line manager and the ministry. Failure to comply will result in placing fines on private and international schools for employing them.
BISK principle, Dr. Frano, being the only internationally acclaimed school administrator in Kurdistan, spoke for approximately four minutes to the attendees. On behalf of BISK CEO, Mr. Dilshad Hassan Taib, and staff, he congratulated the new Minister of Education on his appointment and his efforts to spearhead these much needed changes and improvements within the ministry.
Dr. Frano also shared information from a seminar by Dr. Chinar Saad Abdulla and Dr. Tavga of University of Salaadin, on how over 40,000 students attend international schools in Kurdistan. Of this student population, 20,000 students are located in Erbil where the medium of instruction is English, and Kurdish is considered a foreign language within the school. This is a key issue that will have a significant negative impact. Dr. Frano presented a solution to this epidemic by using the dual language approach to teaching content areas – better known as an immersion program using 90-10 or 50-50 approach. There are currently 400 such schools in the US successfully using this approach. Students should not learn English at the expense of their native language, Kurdish. He also informed attendees and the new minister that a leading research university from Michigan, USA - Wayne State University, will visit during the 2019-2020 school year to conduct professional development for teachers and school leaders on the latest scientific research and best practices for teaching and learning on this subject matter.
A special thank you to Mr. Rebaz, as he did an outstanding job in translating and ensuring the message was accurately conveyed to all members of the audience. Our principle will meet personally with the new minister in the new future to further discuss this and other matters related to the efficiency and efficacy of school operations.
