Current+Education+In+Iraq

=**Current Education In Iraq**=

**The Past**


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Iraq witnessed wide progress in various fields of life that included the educational sector which acquires a special attention because of its role in the process of the cultural structure of the society. For it witnessed great developments and achievements that consist a part of the many big achievements accomplished by the states in different economical, social, educational and cultural aspects of life. The constitution of Iraq asserted free education throughout its different levels; elementary, secondary and university, and obligatory elementary education and commitment to the eradication of illiteracy. Iraq also witnessed productive activity and intense efforts to evolve the educational process to conform with the movement of educational innovation in the world.=====

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And through the persistent efforts, the primary education witnessed development in its different levels through benefiting from the modern practices and trends, included its plans, study books, methods of assessment and examinations, the programmers of priming and training teachers; consolidating the relationship between education, labour and production, benefiting from educational technologies and implementing sports, artistic and recreational activities accompanying the program.===== http://www.unesco.org/education/wef/countryreports/iraq/rapport_1.html

**Statistics**

 * [|Appointing 25,000 elementary high school teachers] (1st Mar 2007)
 * [|232 university professors killed, 3000 more left Iraq since 2003] (8th Apr 2007)
 * Only 43 percent of Iraqis rate their local schools as "good" -- down from 74 percent in December 2005. There has been a stark drop in the numbers of children attending school -- not a reflection of the quality of schools, necessarily, but the safety of the schools. "Simply getting to class," according to one account, "has become an accountable risk for many…" According to Iraq's Ministry of Education, only 30 percent of 3.5 million Iraqi elementary-school children are attending classes -- a remarkable drop from 75 percent two years ago. While the vast majority of schools remain open and the government has instituted a relocation program for families who want to move their kids to safer areas, millions of children are receiving a sporadic education at best. The Education Ministry has hired thousands of guards to protect schools, and it recently increased teachers' salaries by 20 to 50 percent in an attempt to entice them to stay in their jobs. http://abcnews.go.com/International/Story?id=2962206&page=3

**Infrastructure**
Despite massive degradation and deterioration as a result of three major wars and over a decade of sanctions, under-funding and official neglect, the education system in Iraq has continued to operate through three complete academic years since May 2003 under the responsibility of the Ministry of Education in Baghdad (MOE), and the education authorities in the Kurdistan region. While the resumption of schooling and solid recovery in enrollments are notable achievements, the education system continues to face considerable challenges in terms of both access and quality due to lack of facilities, learning materials, access to the international community and depletion of highly trained staff. http://www.irffi.org/

To ensure swift, flexible and coordinated donor financing for investments in Iraq, the World Bank and the United Nations have created the International Reconstruction Fund Facility for Iraq (IRFFI). The Facility helps donors channel their resources to the Iraq reconstruction effort. So far 25 donors have committed about $1.85 billion to the Facility.  Major repairs under way in Baghdad. (June 2005) http://www.irffi.org/

UNESCO has been supporting the education sector in Iraq with the provision of equipment and capacity-building. To allow children and teachers to follow the school curriculum through distance learning, UNESCO and the Education Minister of Iraq launched the Iraqi Educational TV Channel, IRAQI EDU. The $6.5 million project, is financed by the European Union as part of their overall support for the sector in Iraq.

The 24-hour channel (NILESAT at 10775 Hz) broadcasts educational episodes based on the Iraqi school curricula and designed for primary and secondary school students both within and outside of Iraq. UNESCO’s participation focuses on building the capacities of programming staff and ministry participants, as well as equipping the ministry’s focal satellite unit. [|http://www.unesco.org] IsThis Any Way To Rebuild Iraq? Instead, the U.S. military is footing the reconstruction bill. Over the last two years, while Iraq has earned nearly $100 billion in oil revenues (and spent just $2 billion on capital investments such as roads, water and electricity), U.S. taxpayers have plowed $48 billion into reconstruction activities in Iraq. About half of that has gone to the oil and electricity infrastructures. The U.S. has also helped to renovate 3,000 schools, train 30,000 teachers, distribute 8 million textbooks and rebuild irrigation infrastructure for 400,000 people, as well as fund projects to improve drinking water, bridges, roads, sewage treatment, airports and, of course, oil pipelines and refineries.  http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-bilmes15-2008aug15,0,4432303.story
 * The country has a huge budget surplus. Why isn't it paying for its own reconstruction?**

World Vision moves to get refugee children back in school. //** World Vision partners started education programs for refugee children and teenagers, as thousands continue to flee violence in Iraq.To help meet the needs, World Vision is working with four organizations in Jordan to provide informal education, peace-building skills, counseling, food distributions and health care. One organization is now operating a day center for 200 children where they are able to play and learn in safety. Iraqi youth are also learning leadership skills and resilience at the center. Another partner is providing preschool education for 150 children, as well as English classes and life skills to teenage girls. Yet another is tutoring 250 young Iraqis in drama, arts, languages and literacy. http://www.worldvision.org/about_us.nsf/child/enews_refugee_200706?Open&wvsrc=enews&lpos=rightnav&lid=refugee200706 Thursday, 22 Jan. 2009 A UNHCR program supported by the Syrian government allows 154 Iraqi refugees to attend universities around the country and take courses for free. http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/home
 * Outside Agency Assistance** **//


 * Images in Education:**

Iraqi Schools Were Destroyed

21 IRAQIS DIE AFTER BOMB RIPS SCHOOL BAGHDAD -- Bombings took the lives of at least 21 Iraqis yesterday, including three children and six adults, when an explosive on a horse-drawn cart went off in an attack on a primary school in Mosul. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (PA) - December 3, 2008)

Children Were Killed

Teachers Were Assassinated

“Teachers are also in short supply. Since 2003, more than 250 educators have been assassinated and hundreds have left the country, according to the UN.”

School Buildings are Needed “Alaa Makki, a Sunni Muslim lawmaker who heads parliament's education committee, estimates that Iraq needs to build 4,500 primary, middle and high schools to adequately meet the demand.” Washington Post



The biggest reason that Iraqi children stay home from school is money. A public education is free in Iraq, but a lot of families are too poor to afford backpacks, notebooks and proper school clothes.

These children might not know grammar and punctuation, but they know what to do when the bullets come; how to take cover; and how to hide from the kidnappers, the militants and the soldiers.

Violence has dropped dramatically across Iraq in recent months, but fallout from the bloodshed - lost livelihoods, broken families and disrupted institutions - will linger for a long time. Children begging for money or selling cold sodas from the side of the road are everywhere in Baghdad, even during school hours. As much as anything, they bear witness to all the rebuilding that's left for Iraq.

**UNHCR helps Iraqi students achieve university dreams** DAMASCUS, Syria, January 22 2009 (UNHCR) – A UNHCR project to send the children of needy Iraqi refugees to university for free was launched last November with 154 Iraqi refugees starting degree courses at universities under an agreement with the Ministry of Higher Education. While university is almost free for Syrians, Iraqi refugees have to pay enrolment fees, which can run to several thousand dollars in some faculties. They also have to pay for text books. Education is an important issue for UNHCR, which runs an internet-based campaign, ninemillion.org, aimed at ensuring that all refugee children have access to education. In Syria, the UN refugee agency and UNICEF launched a separate programme in 2007 to get tens of thousands of Iraqi children back into school. By Salwa Salti in Damascus, Syria http://www.unhcr.org/news/NEWS/49789e624.html//

[|//Iraqi// educator shares his hope for //Iraq's// future]
 * The Future**