"Arab students accuse authorities in Kirkuk of 'Kurdicizing' education"

Al Hayat, a privately owned newspaper, reported in its March 9 issue about the recent developments in the northern city of Kirkuk in Iraq which is ethnically diverse and thus suffers from confrontations between the Arab, Kurdish, and Turkish inhabitants. The newspaper wrote: "The political crisis between the Kurds and the Shiites moved into the schools of Kirkuk. The Iraqi police broke apart several fistfights between Kurdish students opposed to the nomination of Ibrahim Al Jaafari for the office of prime minister and Shiite students who support him in Al Askari neighborhood which is inhabited by Kurdish, Arab, and Turkish families. Members of the [Shiite] Sadr movement accused the local (Kurdish) government of attempting to 'Kurdicize' the education."

The newspaper continued: "The schools and educational institutes in the city which is known for its ethnic diversity have witnessed ethnic tensions ever since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime, because of the insistence of the Kurdish teachers to teach in Kurdish, added to the spread of posters calling for the declaration of Kirkuk as a Kurdish city. The Kurdish Mostapha Al Jabari, who works as an educational supervisor in the educational department in the city, announced that the 'fights, exchanging curses, and mocking the leaders of political movements are often the reasons behind the clashes between students in regions with multiple ethnicities'. He added that 'sometimes we are obliged to threaten the students with calling the police to arrest them for fomenting ethnic tension, but with no result'. He added that 'We have to stand outside the entrance of the school after the bell to prevent the students from shouting slogans: 'No No or Yes Yes for Jaafari,' because that leads to fights with fists and stones'…" - Al Hayat, United Kingdom