SYRIA SCHOOL CURRICULUM

KURDS AND CHRISTIANS split over Syria school curriculum.

Kurdish authorities in Syria's diverse northeast are facing swelling anger from the areas Syrian Christians after shutting down more than a dozen schools run by the ancient minority.

At the heart of the dispute is a debate over whether to use the new school curriculum championed by the Kurdish led autonomous administration or stick to accredited system used by Damascus.

The schisms reflect the broader fissures in the northeast between those supporting formal state institutions and those defending parallel bodies developed by the Kurds.

After regime forces withdrew from swathes of Syria's northeast early in the seven-year war,  Kurds began building up their own institutions in the area, including police force and schools.

They put an emphasis on minority rights, with Kurdish schools teaching all subjects in their own language and Syrian schools doing the same in their ancient tongue.

But now, some Syrian Christians in Hasakeh province are insisting on using the accredited state curriculum over worries Kurdish diplomas will be considered invalid elsewhere.

''Learning in your mother tongue is something all peoples have a right to in this region,'' says Danny Saliba, who teaches science in Syriac in the northeastern city of Qamishli.

''But the problem is the recogniion of this language.

''No universities - whether Syrian or foreign - recognise this curriculum or the diploma issued by the autonomous administration's education commission,'' he tells AFP.

The dispute prompted Kurdish authorities last week to shut down 14 schools in the cities of Qamishli, Hasakeh, and Al-Malikyeh that were supportive of teaching the state curriculum.

Dozens of people took to Qamishl's streets in protest, waving the two-star Syrian government flag and chanting in support of President Bashar al-Assad.

But their demonstrations were in vain. On Monday, the students headed back to class across Kurdish-held territory, the schools remain shuttered.[Agencies]