Friday, May 27, 2005

Iraqi Kurdish students choose English over Arabic

Now here is a stunner! According to Islam Online and Middle East Online, more students prefer to learn English over Arabic, the official language of Iraq as well as the language of the Koran.

Opression under Saddam Hussein has something to with it, according to Arbil High School director Hany Khoder saying the students "prefer English, because, to them, Arabic is the language of oppression and the atrocities of the former regime."

At Salaheddin University in Kurdish northern Iraq, of the students there, 999 study in English, 555 study in Kurdish and just 350 choose to study in Arabic.

"Those who study in Arabic do so because they did not have good enough grades in the baccalaureate to study in English, or for religious reasons," said Taher Mustafa, 42, who is one of only four Arabic language lecturers at the university.

Amazing story.

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