Föreningen Tornseglarna öppnade den tredje oktober 2010 Aso folkhögskola – Kurdistans och Mellanösterns första folkhögskola! Sedan 2004 har vi arbetat för att starta denna folkhögskola och för att få igång samarbeten mellan folkhögskolor i Sverige och Kurdistan. Sedan starten har åtskilliga projekt, resor, samarbeten och studier genomförts i föreningens regi. Om dem och vår spännande resa för Mellanösterns första folkhögskola kan du läsa genom att klicka dig fram till respektive årtal här ovan. Du kan stötta vårt arbete genom att bli medlem, engagera dig aktivt i föreningen eller ge föreningen ett ekonomiskt bidrag.

History of Tornseglarna and Aso folk high school

In 2004 the first initiative to start a folk high school in the Kurdistan region was taken at the Swedish folk high school at Långbro, Stockholm. The teacher Sten Lennblad and his student Saman Garmiani sat down and had a talk about democracy and the possibilities for and needs of a folk high school in Kurdistan. This initiative eventually led to that the organization of Tornseglarna was formally founded in 2006. At that time the initiative had gathered more people, most of them teachers or participants at folk high schools.

Already in October/November 2005, though, Sten Lennblad, Katarina Korp and Donald Boström had visited Kurdistan to make a survey of the needs and possibilities of a folk high school and found that there was a great need for other opportunities for ”a second chance” for upper secondary education and a need for civic education, which is at the heart of the folk high schools, was equally great. The folk high school has an over 150 year old tradition in Sweden and the Nordic countries and since, folk high schools have been estblished in for instance African and Latin American countries.
Ever since 2004, the organization of Tornseglarna has worked hard to start folk high schools in Kurdistan and to inform about the great importance of civic education and democracy. In 2006 Kurdistan had a new government and in the very end of that year, the Council of Ministers decided to approve of the start of three folk high schools – one in Slémani, one in Erbil and one in Duhok. Tornseglarna, as a voluntary organization, committed themselves to the task of organizing and preparing for the start of these schools and had meetings with the Minister of Education. In the summer of 2007, teachers were recruited in Slémani and everything was set for a start. The administrations within the KRG took a long time, though, necessary decisions were not made at that point and the start of the first folk high school was postponed.

This took a new turn again in 2009. The new Minister of Education, Mr. Safeen Dizayee, agreed to meet Tornseglarna in March that year and discuss the matter. The meeting gave positive results and on the 23rd of June 2010, the organization of Tornseglarna and the Ministry of Education in the Kurdistan region could finally sign an agreement to start the first folk high school in Kuridstan.

The folk high school, named Aso, received its first participants on the 3rd of October 2010 and on 10.10.2010 at 10 o'clock the Aso folk high school was formally opened by the Swedish Consul in Erbil, Mr. Carl Henrik Assargård. Before the opening, six teachers from Slémani had been in Sweden for a one month course at Swedish folk high schools and there received training for their work at the first folk high school in Kurdistan. This was a course that Tornseglarna had received money from the Swedish Institute to arrange.

The teachers, the participants and their families and the organization of Tornseglarna, are all pioneers in this important work to strengthen the civic society, democracy and human rights in Kurdistan. The Aso folk high school and the organization of Tornseglarna are politically and religiously independent and are also free and independent from government control. Trustee of Aso folk high school is the organization of Tornseglarna. Aso folk high school strives to be a meeting place for discussions and debate in a good atmosphere, where different opinions and all people are equally respected.

Medlemskap
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