Radio Free Iraq Reports on Teaching and Broadcasting in Syriac Language

Petr Kubalek
Czech Republic

(ZNDA: Baghdad) Radio Free Iraq correspondent in Baghdad, Sawsan Habib, reported on 9 June about the celebrations held at Baghdad's Ibn al-Haytham Elementary School on the occasion of the graduation of the first class taught in the Syriac (alternative name for Assyrian) language.

Immanuel Musa Shakwana, the director of Syriac Teaching at Iraq's Ministry of Education, told Radio Free Iraq: "Having the first elementary class of pupils who have graduated in the Syriac language is important because it is a first-time experience in Baghdad. Last year, the same thing was experienced in Kirkuk. We hope that in next academic year 2005-2006, instruction will expand and that more parents will be interested in registering their children in the Syriac classes or schools. This is very important because when the child learns all subjects in his or her mother tongue, he or she grasps them better than learning them in another language."

Ban Anwiye, a female teacher at Baghdad's Ibn al-Haytham Elementary School, told the Radio: "This achievement is the first step in strengthening our Assyrian identity and language as the members of the Chaldo-Assyrian-Syriac people in Iraq. This is the first step in our life and society. It is a new style in teaching and education. It gives us, of course, substantial optimism. This step will open new space also for other languages."

Husayn al-Jaf, Director General for Teaching Languages Other Than Arabic at Iraq's Ministry of education, said: "I believe that the effort we brought forward by supporting this teaching on the basis of the interim Iraqi constitution [ the Transitional Administrative Law], has started to bring results."
Assyria: The Assyrians and the Permanent Iraqi Constitution
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Nevertheless, a plan is being worked out that encompasses Arabic language teaching in the curricula of the Assyrian schools as well. Radio Free Iraq correspondent in Kirkuk Nihad al-Bayati spoke with Fawziya Abdallah Awanis, the Kirkuk Governorate Council's Education Directorate deputy director and director for Syriac teaching. In the interview broadcast by Radio Free Iraq in its weekly program "Mosaic" on 18 June, she said: "The Iraqi people must learn this [Arabic] language as long as they live in this country. Coming out from this principle, [Iraq's] Ministry of Education has provided for the inclusion of the teaching of Arabic language in the curricula of schools that lead instruction in ethnic languages ­ Kurdish, Turkoman, and Syriac."

In a closely related field, Radio Free Iraq correspondent in Arbil, Abd al-Hamid Zebari, interviewed on 10 June George Mansour, the director of the Iraqi Media Network (after the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime) and the current director of Ishtar satellite TV, which will soon launch its broadcast. Mansour told Radio Free Iraq: "The channel will broadcast in the Syriac, Kurdish, and Arabic languages. It will aim at delivering the heritage and culture of the Chaldo-Assyrian-Syriac people to other communities of Iraq and at strengthening the relations between our Chaldo-Assyrian-Syriac people and the Iraqi people in general."

He added: "I believe that now, in new Iraq, we must all work together for its benefit, for the benefit of this Iraq that we were dreaming of and fighting for."

When aAsked about the nature of the Ishtar Satellite TV broadcast, Mansour described it as a "variety channel", elaborating: "There will be news; programs on arts, culture, and heritage; sports programs; family programs; broadcasts for children; as well as political programs."

Mansour highlighted the focus of Ishtar TV: "I think the main issue is that the Arab and partly also Iraqi media has been focusing on the negative events happening in Iraq, on explosions, killing, looting, and so on. But they have not paid attention so far to the positive events that are really going on today in Iraq."

On the increasing number of satellite TV channels arising in Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime, Mansour pointed out: "I believe it is a healthy phenomenon. The good [channels] will remain. In the first year after the fall of the regime [of Saddam Hussein], more than 100 newspapers appeared, and the number has now decreased. But the space is open for everyone. I think that it is good if someone can establish a satellite TV channel but, in the end, every channel must have its viewers. So the channel must be done so that the viewers benefit. It is like competition in sports, honest and healthy."

All the interviews can be listened to in their Arabic originals on Radio Free Iraq's website (click here).