Iraqi Streets شوارع عراقية

Schools across Iraq are crumbling as a result of a lack of government attention as well as rampant corruption, leaving many children without any means of education say observers.

Muhammad Ayed, a sixth grade student in a rural school in Wasit province who dreams of becoming a government employee, described to Niqash the plight of many Iraqi school children.

“I have been sitting on the floor for the last three years to receive my education and the government is not aware of our condition and has not attempted to improve the situation to allow us to receive a good education,” he said.

According to Ayed his school “lacks good furniture, laboratories, chairs and the number of books are not enough.”

Critics blame the deteriorating situation on government mismanagement and a lack of accountability that fuels corruption.

“This neglect is due to the rampant corruption in all state facilities,” said Afra al- Moussawi, a member of Wasit’s provincial council and deputy-head of Wasit’s education directorate. “Most of the amounts allocated by the government are being stolen and there are indirect contacts with contractors for personal gains.”

While Wasit provincial council says that huge amounts of money have been spent reequipping schools, an examination of the schools paints a different picture.

Many of these schools are old and are about to collapse; the walls have holes and their windows and doors, if they exist at all, are broken. Most schools are dramatically underequipped in teaching materials and many children sit on the floor in over-crowded classes.

Al-Moussawi says that even schools that have been renovated quickly fall into a new state of disrepair as a result of poor workmanship and the use of sub-standard materials. Contractors, she explained, take advantage of the lack of government accountability to cut costs and make a greater profit.

One secondary school headmasters in Baghdad, who preferred to remain anonymous, told Niqash that most educational buildings are dilapidated but that “administrative corruption and a lack of attention” have hindered reconstruction plans. Even some headmasters take renovation money for themselves he said.

According to another headmaster in rural Wasit, Ahmad Kathem, “the state has tried to repair schools but the renovation was incomplete… while the state is spending lots of money to equip these schools we see that they continue to lack much important equipment.”

Kathem said that many teachers are now leaving the profession because of a lack of adequate facilities.

The Ministry of Education blames the situation on the regime of Saddam Hussein, saying that they took over a very weak educational infrastructure.

“We inherited a heavy legacy from the former regime; we inherited 15,053 schools from the former regime but most of them are old school doomed to fail,” said Professor Walid Hassan, director of the Information Office at the Ministry of Education. “It has been very difficult to renovate these schools in such a short period of time because the amount allocated for the renovation of schools in the budget is not enough at all.”

According to Hassan the government built 300 new schools across the country during the last year. However, he acknowledged that many more are urgently needed to address the growing education deficit.

“The state should allocate at least US $4 billion to enable us build new schools and furnish them and renovate the old ones in order to put the educational process on the right track,” he said.