Parliament holds second reading of articles 2 to 14 of the Bill on Education and Training

The Kurdistan Parliament on 27 September 2022 continued the second reading of the Bill on Education and Training in Kurdistan Region – Iraq, reading from articles 2 to 14 on the principles and goals of state education, at some points in the presence of the KRG Minister of Education Alan Hama Saeed.

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

For the first part of the sitting the Minister for the Region for Parliament Affairs, Dr. Vala Farid, and Dr. Seywan Ali, from the KRG Ministry of Education.

For articles 2, 3 and 4 of the bill, which are the provisions on the philosophical and general principles of education and training and the general and common goals of education, MPs made detailed comments and suggestions which will be taken into consideration when the Parliament’s education and legislative committees prepare the bill’s voting report.

The KRG Education Minister Alan Hama Saeed was present for the second part of the sitting with Dr. Seywan Ali. Articles 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14 were read, which are the provisions on governmental (state) education institutions, the particular objectives of kindergartens (ages 4 to 5), the principles and goals of basic education (which comprises grades 1 to 9 from primary to lower secondary), compulsory education, the cycles (stages) of basic education, and the principles of upper secondary education (also known as preparatory education, grades 10 to 12). The education and legislative committees said that they had removed Article 9 from the bill.

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

Deputy Speaker Dr. Hemin Hawrami closed the sitting and said that the bill’s second reading would continue the next day, 28 September 2022, at 10am.