Shafaq News- Erbil

More than 1.75 million students began the 2026-2027 school year across the Kurdistan Region on Sunday, including more than 123,000 children entering first grade for the first time.

Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Prime Minister Masrour Barzani marked the start of the academic year by ringing the school bell at a school in Erbil and congratulating students, teachers, and education staff. He urged students to focus on their studies and protect the environment “above all,” while reaffirming the KRG’s support for the education sector.

The Kurdistan Region has more than 7,590 schools, with 168,735 teachers and other education staff, including 107,426 permanent teachers, 30,090 contract teachers, and 31,219 other employees. The KRG previously said the Ninth Cabinet had built 236 new schools and kindergartens, added 476 classrooms to existing schools, and renovated 2,650 schools across the Region.

Education authorities also revised 110 textbooks for different stages of schooling and printed about 19 million new textbooks for distribution across cities, towns, and villages. The revised materials were prepared in Sorani Kurdish, Badini Kurdish, Arabic, English, Syriac, and Turkmen.

Universities and institutes resumed classes earlier in September. The Kurdistan Region’s 16 public and 18 private universities have a combined enrollment of 186,400 students.

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