ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Twenty inmates in a Sulaimani prison who have been enrolled to continue their studies at the higher education institutions have not been permitted to attend their classes.
The inmates, serving time at Sulaimani’s Correctional Facility, have received seats at the University of Sulaimani but have been prevented from attending classes in-person.
“We have been enrolled at universities and institutes, but as of now, no step has been taken and the process for us has not started,” one of the inmates told Rudaw, asking not to be named.
He said the facility has offered a special venue and access to laptops so they can join online courses, but this has not resolved their issue.
The Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, which oversees the Kurdistan Region’s prisons, has issued a request to the higher education ministry to resolve the issue of the inmates. Their focus is on online courses.
“We have made a request that students must choose humanities and social sciences instead of scientific studies. This is because scientific studies will cause us issues since they have to be physically present at the universities and institutes,” Ihsan Abdulrahman, director of adult correctional facilities, told Rudaw.
He lamented that some of the inmates will face death threats if they leave the prisons. However, he said that a mechanism that could help provide courses to the inmates including some opportunities that could allow physical attendance is also being discussed.
The University of Sulaimani declined to comment on the issue, but Rudaw understands that they have told officials at the prison facilities that their courses require in-person attendance at the campus.
The correctional facilities provide primary and secondary education in their compounds. There are currently 417 enrolled inmates in different levels of education, including 74 who are attending online classes.
The inmates have the right to apply to private or public higher education institutions.
In 2022, a female inmate who graduated from a private institute obtaining a diploma in English language made headlines in the Kurdistan Region. She received a fully-funded scholarship from a private institute. During her stay in the prison, some of her lecturers regularly went to the facility to provide in-person teaching, despite online classes.
Her efforts paid off, and she ranked first for the class of 2022.
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