Iraqi public schools crumbling
Mismanagement, underfunding and widespread corruption have left Iraq’s education system in tatters. And as growing numbers of private schools plug the gap in alternative services for those who can afford it, inequality is increasing among the country's children. My report for TRT World last week.
Iraq’s students are victims of an education sector in crisis - crumbling schools, under-(and un)paid teachers, corruption misdirecting resources, and the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbating neglect. Before 2003, private schools were a foreign concept in Iraq - now, with public education in disarray, the pressure among non-affluent parents to send their children to private institutions is growing.
UNICEF have tracked a steady decrease in education funding over the past decade: from 7.9 trillion IQD in 2013-2014 to 6.7 trillion IQD in 2015-2016, and to 5.4 trillion IQD ($4.6 billion) in 2018. A study published last year by the Education Consortium of Iraq found that even the allocated funds are rarely fully spent, with less than 40% of the budget implemented since 2015. The Education Ministry spokes told us they were hoping for 20% of the federal budget this year...
Additionally (cut from report but so important) thousands of children are displaced, and don't even have access to schools. For those who do, the threat of being forced to drop out of education also looms large. Girls are unsurprisingly the overwhelming percentage of children who are forced to drop out before completing their education (the World Bank says 60% of those who do, are female).
Since 2003, many say education has not been seen as a priority in Iraq, and the state of the country’s schools reflect this mentality. According to the World Bank, of just seven years spent in school, the average amount of learning that takes place among Iraqi children is four years. The report doesn't even touch on the physical punishment that is still practised in some public schools in the country.
With thanks to the brilliant students who spoke to me.
