Task Force Charge

To lead national conversations on K-19 education with the aim of reforming and grooming the current system into an exemplary model for Iraq and the Middle East with the focus on workforce preparedness, not just aiming to accommodate Kurdistan’s economic needs of today, but into the future.

• To assess current policies, procedures, and drivers of elementary, secondary, and higher education in Kurdistan with the aim of reform;
• To assess and recommend an administrative structure on the ministerial level that eliminates redundancies and addresses gaps in authority;
• To focus on Kurdistan’s development of an educational system that ensures international standards/expectations in student learning outcomes;
• To identify key skill sets and fields of knowledge needed for the economic advancement of Kurdistan;
• To develop policies that ensure inclusion and accessibility for all children/students regardless of ethnicity, socio-economic status, religion, and learning or physical disability;
• To provide a model demonstrating the alignment of student learning outcomes with workforce expectations to ensure employability of graduates from both vocational tracks and university-academic tracks;
• To recommend to the KRG the revision of K-19 curricula and educational support structures to ensure maximum efficiency and effectiveness in carrying out their respective missions;
• To suggest mechanisms that ensure that secondary school graduates are ready for rigorous academic programs within the universities; and
• To provide flexible guiding principles and regulations that allow private K-19 to introduce a variety of academic and administrative models reflective of international best practices.

• Inaugural conference at AUK to kick off the initiative; the conference will have plenary speakers from the KRI and abroad;
• Working sessions with conference participants to conduct SWOT analyses and participate in other exercises with the aim of identifying challenges and opportunities to drive reform;
• Review of past studies, reports, and initiatives to understand their successes and failures;
• The compilation of a strategic plan with action priorities to serve as a roadmap for the initiative (to be posted on a website for public viewing and feedback);
• Meetings across Kurdistan conducted by the Task Force workgroups for stakeholders to propose tactics that are practical and beneficial to the educational ecosystem;
• Meetings with representatives of various industry sectors to ensure alignment between K-19 curricula and workforce expectations;
• Annual conferences reviewing the Task Force’s activities and its findings in order to ensure transparency of the initiative;
• While the work of the Task Force may never end, there will be the periodic formulation and delivery of recommendations to the respective ministries of the KRG; and
• The assessment of reforms/initiatives implemented by the ministries as appropriate to the purview of this Task Force.

• A new administrative structure within/between the existent ministries;
• The development of a school quality assurance program including monitoring, data-driven decision making, and trainings for staff and administration;
• Making private school monitoring compatible with public school monitoring;
• Fully implementing and annually assessing the outcomes of a teacher training program employing international best practices and full-time professionals; and
• Surveying the current facilities for K-19 to identify deficiencies and limitations, and make recommendations to address them.

Conferences and working sessions to address issues, report progress, and develop strategic initiatives will continue for a period of 3 years. However, as education needs to continually evolve in order to meet the ever changing economic and social expectations, a core group – a steering committee – will continue to function to assess and monitor reforms and when deemed necessary, reactivate the Task Force.