Khor Mor outage disrupts exams in Kurdistan’s Al-Sulaymaniyah

Shafaq News – Al-Sulaymaniyah (Updated at 16:10)

Schools in the Al-Sulaymaniyah province, Kurdistan Region, will not hold exams this week – except on Sunday – after repeated power outages disrupted students in the aftermath of the Khor Mor gas field attack.

Khor Mor, Iraq’s largest gas field, produces around 21 million cubic meters of gas per day and underpins the Region’s electricity grid. The strike caused a sharp drop in gas supply.

In a statement, the Ministry of Education’s Office for Displaced Student Affairs said the decision followed instructions from Al-Sulaymaniyah Education Director Rabah Hassan al-Tamimi, citing students’ conditions amid the ongoing crisis.

The measure, it added, is intended to “ensure an appropriate environment” for examinations.

Later on Saturday, the head of the province’s Generators Association, Othman Mohammed, announced fixed operating hours for private generators—from 4:00 p.m. to midnight—after the sharp reduction in national power supply. The system, he said, will remain in place until government electricity returns to normal levels.

Large parts of Al-Sulaymaniyah were plunged into darkness late Thursday into Friday after a near-total blackout, forcing residents to rely on lanterns and traditional lale oil lamps in scenes “not witnessed in decades.”

Read more: Lanterns return: Al-Sulaymaniyah faces long night after gas field strike