Iragi schools registering high drop-out rates

By Ahmed Yassin, The Baghdad Observer No. 8906, 9 June 1998

Baghdad—Ali, a nine-year old child was surprised when asked what school meant to him. I no longer remember anything about school, I forgot all that I have learnt, even letters, I can not read or write, he said as his 5 year-old sister Isra bragged of her ability to count to twenty.

Lack of educational aids and the hard economic situation caused by the sanctions made the educational sector unable to meet the ambitions of a large part of students, forcing them to desert schools to supplement their families livings.

Drop-outs from schools however, is not an extraordinary sanctions-instigated phenomenon rather it is a routine practice sometimes encouraged by those children's families.

Studies conducted by a number of concerned organisations including the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) show that half the pupils of the preparatory stage all over the world drop-out from schools when they fail in the same class for more than three years.

In Iraq the matter is quite different. The drop-outs are primarily blamed on the hard economic conditions entailed by the seven-year UN sanctions which forced the children to leave their schools to work and earn money and come up with little more. Families, sometimes, encourage their children to do so when faced with an increasing pressure to secure the minimal needs for living.

Would school secure my family's needs for food and lessen the misery of our life? said Kareem, a teenager when asked why not joining evening classes.

Hundreds of children were forced to leave early the fantasy world of childhood and turn to a false sense of manhood only to contribute to the economic survival of their families.

Usually the children toil the day long in jobs that do not match their abilities and age. Some of them are seen on the streets shoe-shining while others are engaged in peddling sales of cigarettes even cosmetics.

The UN sanctions imposed on Iraq in 1990 seriously harmed the Ministry of Education's programmes. Nearly nine per cent of girls and six per cent of boys in primary and intermediate schools refrained from attending class in the 1993-1994 aca- demic year. However, the Ministry forcasts a higher rate in the current year.

According to Dr. Zakiyya Abdul Fattah, a researcher at Social and Psychological Studies Centre: more efforts should be exerted to boost the education sector in Iraq, since education changes the whole society and even support social and economic development plans.

Valid Iraqi laws provide for protecting teenagers under 15 from economic exploitation and forced labour that hinder education or pose harm to their health, she added.

Unless procedures are taken to put an end to such a phenomenon, education system in Iraq will collapse, Dr. Zakiyya warned adding that most of the street children will fall a prey to social diseases including crime, moral deviation and exploitation.

On the other hand, the UN crippling sanctions have a profoundly adverse impacts on the progress of education itself in the country. This is evident in the lack of printing materials and acute shortages of supplies. Even paper and pencils are difficult to obtain are prohibitive.

The past seven years have witnessed an unprecedented halt in the growth of basic educational services and a stagnation in the educational qualities.

The effects of war on education have been disastrous. Hundreds of schools were damaged during the war and the ensuing acts of terrorism. Drop-out rates among school boys and girls have in- creased five-fold compared to pre-war levels. The quality of teaching itself was widely affected. Schools are usualll organised in double shifts per day.

Under the UN oil-for-food deal, a sum of 100 million dollars have been allocated for the import of education aids, including visual aids, laboratory and library equiment, sport facilities and furniture as well as printing materials and equipment.