ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Iraq and the Kurdistan Region on Sunday marked the first day of the new academic year, as millions of new students headed to the classrooms across the country.

Millions of students took to their schools as bells rang across Iraq, marking the new 2025-2026 school year, to begin a new chapter in their academic journey. 

Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani inaugurated the new school year in a visit to Zakho, while Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani attended a flag-raising ceremony in Baghdad’s Sadr City to mark the occasion.

Barzani expressed gratitude to the Kurdistan Region’s teachers, saying they “haven’t let the education process halt, despite the challenges they have faced, and they haven’t let students be deprived of their education,” hoping that the financial crisis that has led to irregular payments of the Region’s civil servants’ salaries is resolved in the near future. 

Public sector employees in the Kurdistan Region - which include tens of thousands of teachers - have borne the brunt of a budgetary dispute between Erbil and Baghdad. Civil servants received their salaries for June in September, while July and August salaries have yet to be disbursed by the Iraqi government. 

Sudani, meanwhile, described the beginning of the new academic year as “a launch indicating the beginning of a new renaissance in our country, which is witnessing development, reconstruction, and services, as well as a new start in the process of state-building,” read a statement from his office.

According to data acquired by The New Region, over 500,000 students commenced their studies in the Kurdistan Region’s capital of Erbil alone, while more than 100,000 students ventured to schools in Zakho and nearly 30,000 in Halabja. 

The disputed province of Kirkuk also saw over 100,000 students pursuing their education in Kurdish, with over 1,000 pupils having transferred from Arabic schools in favor of their Kurdish counterparts.

The New Region understands that over 100 schools offering Kurdish education in Kirkuk are in suboptimal conditions, putting their students at risk. The federal education ministry, however, has yet to address the concerns.