Illiteracy Rate in Kurdistan Region is Higher Than in Iraq, Statistics Show

PUKMEDIA

Iraq and Kurdistan Region.

According to the final results of Iraq's 2024 Population and Housing Census, the Kurdistan Region has a greater illiteracy rate than Iraq, and the president of the Kurdistan Teachers Union attributed this to the government's failure to prioritise education.

The Iraqi Ministry of Planning published last week the complete results of Iraq's Population and Housing Census, which took place in November 2024. According to the data, the illiteracy rate among those aged 10 and up is 15.31% throughout Iraq and 16.23% in the Kurdistan Region.

Abdulwahid Mohammed, President of the Kurdistan Teachers Union (KTU), told PUKMEDIA that while we criticise Iraq's inadequate education process, statistics reveal that there are challenges to our education sector.

The KTU President blamed the education sector's collapse on a variety of factors, including a lack of an education budget, inadequate school buildings, and a lack of contemporary technology and training to enhance quality.

"The results of these problems lead to a high illiteracy rate, and the responsibility of this issue falls on the Ministry of Education and the Kurdistan Regional Government," he said.

He added: The KRG does not prioritise education, but in advanced nations, education is a government priority. Therefore, all material and spiritual efforts must be made to bolster teachers' skills, and the government should grant the required funds for this sector while conducting a campaign to eradicate illiteracy, which has not been done in years.

Meanwhile, Rawaz Ahmad Sha, a PUK bloc member of the Kurdistan Parliament, told PUKMEDIA that the Kurdistan Region's high illiteracy rate is due to a number of factors, the most important of which is the Kurdistan Region's financial crisis, which has lasted more than ten years.

"It is the responsibility of this parliament term to allocate a specific budget for the education sector, and it is the responsibility of the Ministry of Education to devote more attention to this sector," he said.



PUKMEDIA