Cartoon 40: Removing Language Through Education

While the population of Kurds in Iran is close to seven million, nearly 10% of the total Iranian population, the Kurdish people continue to be systematically isolated and discriminated against. One of the main demands of Iranian Kurds has been to allow them to use the Kurdish language in their education and textbooks. However, since Persian (Farsi) is the only official language of Iran, all official documents, including text and textbooks, must be written in Persian.

One of the impacts of the ban on Kurdish-language educational materials is widespread illiteracy in their native tongue for many Kurdish Iranians.

According to a report by Human Rights Watch, even non-educational Kurdish-language books and publications are targeted in Iran: “The Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance has targeted publications across the board, with a heavy impact on Kurdish and other local language publications. Now Iranian Kurds have to import Kurdish-language books from Iraqi Kurdistan.”