May 27, 2009
LEARNING TO RECOVER
Education in war-torn Iraq has similarities to America’s
By Philip Forgit
Farah Ali, 17, is a sixth-grader in Al-
IRAQ
Hillah, Iraq. She recalled, with emotion, “One night… there were fights near our house, and explosions. We were so scared from the fighting between the Americans and the Iraqis...” Her voice trailed off as she looked down to compose herself. I RA Q I V OI C E S Smiling apologeticalFormer Rawls ly, she added, “There Byrd Elementary was no going to schoolteacher school.” Philip Forgit Years of war and embargo set back Iraqi recently returned from an embedpublic education. ded assignment Schools were neglect- with U.S. troops in ed, destroyed, damIraq. He spent aged and closed. three months filmThose that remained ing how the war has affected the open were poorly attended because of so Iraqi people. Last in a series. much violence. Now there is relative peace, and coalition and Iraqi government school reconstruction projects are booming as students return.
Schools in Iraq begin with elementary grades 1-6. Kindergarten and pre-school are mostly private ventures. With some confusion, secondary school grades are also numbered 1-6. Exams taken at various stages determine one’s eligibility for gifted schools and eventually college. At the elementary level, girls and boys typically go to school together. Some selfsegregation occurs in the classroom, particularly in religiously conservative areas. For the most part there is no forced segregation, and genders mix freely on the playground as well as in the classroom. Some public systems have all-girl and all-boy elementary schools, but that is rare. Rigid and legalized separation of gender does not occur until the beginning of the U.S. equivalent of the seventh grade, where it continues through high school. Separation of the sexes is formed by religious belief and by an acknowledgement of the natural attraction of boys and girls, which is deemed a distraction to learning. Al Hamza Naji Hamudi, a 17year-old boy who attends Al Wahly High School for Special Pupils in al-Hillah smiled broadly when answering whether he would like to see girls integrated, “Yes,” he said, “but this would be a big problem.”
Philip Forgit
Rural regions can suffer educationally. In this elementary school in Saab al Bor, children sit four to a desk meant for two.
years. There is no requirement for relicensure or additional training, though each province typically has a training institute for teachers to learn new skills. The institute in Babil Province is focused on getting teachers computer literate. There are 104 labs in as many secondary schools, with plans for many more. In Baghdad Province, schools in urban centers like Baghdad tend to have computer labs while more rural schools, like those in Saab al-Bor, do not. Zain alAbadin, a 19-year-old from rural AlQasim in Babil Province, said that rural schools face great challenges, “There are 50 to 60 students to a class, and four students on desks built for two,” he lamented. “There are no computers like in the city. Electricity comes and goes, and there is no safe drinking water.” Muneer Jabar Abbas teaches second grade at Balquees Elementary in Saab alBor. She said teachers have autonomy Philip Forgit within their classrooms and are given Fadil Muhammed teaches reading and geography in Taha Amin School for Boys. great respect by students and parents. Planning is done by each teacher. She keeps her plans in a book, but without beyond the youngest grades. the regimentation of federal, provincial or However, at Europa, the art room is equipped much like local standards, no teacher’s planner resembles that of an American teacher. In an American school. One some schools, entire grade levels might piece of work on the wall meet to consult, but the concept of team depicts a Kurd holding an teaching is unknown. Arab hand with a dove flyWhether in a “show” school or disading above the scene. The grass grows green and flow- vantaged, children seem disciplined. The teaching style is mostly regimented rote ers burst from the ground. learning and lecture, particularly at the eleThe war is a subject of much of the art in the room. mentary level, with little interaction between students. The school is located amid Differences in education aside, students high-rise apartment complexes pockmarked by bullet have lofty goals, just as many of their American counterparts. holes. A wing of the school Farah Ali thinks about what she can recently reopened after renlearn from America. She hopes to go to ovations from a mortar Harvard and help build a new Iraq. “I want attack. to study in the U.S., then come back to Iraq.” she said confidently. “I want to take Teacher licensure information from there. I want to be useful requires specialized teacher and help my country.” training and a college degree usually taking five
Iraqi students attend school four hours a day starting Sept. 1 and ending between May and July. School buildings are used in shifts, one in the morning and the other in the afternoon. There is no “separate and unequal” when it comes to female education in Iraq. The facilities, teachers and expectations are the same for male and female students. Amira Ubayid Al-Bakri, a Babil Provincial Council member (like a state senator), noted that 90% of the high honor graduates are females. She cited statistics for the colleges of medicine and engineering at Babylon University, where 80% of the medical students and more than half of the engineering students were female. Top pupils in the third grade at the secondary level are sent to schools for “special pupils,” though attendance seems largely confined to those within commuting distance of larger population centers. Sumira Salam, 19, attends Hillah High School for Distinguished Girls. She is on the “science track,” having made that her preference in the fifth grade of secondary school. She said she “may be a doctor because my parents are both doctors.” Though taking biology, chemistry, and physics on the science track, Sumira will study, as do students selecting the arts track, English, Arabic and Islamic (religious study of the Quran and a book on the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad). “Islamic” is taught at every grade level. Students memorize verses and the stories of the Quran. In most classrooms, Muslim prayers or sayings of the prophet are prominently displayed. In Shia areas, Shia martyrs are depicted and studied. English is taught from elementary to high school. Photos by Philip Forgit Some schools, particularly in the cities, An Iraqi girl looks up from her textbook. offer French. shared experience of a Friday night at Dr. Humadi Muhammad Radi-AlJames City County Stadium. There is no Awadi, director general of education in physical education in the secondary Babil Province, noted that the Iraqi system grades, though it varies from school to provides for students with physical and school at the elementary level. Some have mental challenges. A special education “sport rooms” and physical education, committee, composed of a doctor, a spewhile others provide a short recess. cial-ed teacher and a “manager,” makes assessments as early as the first grade. At Europa Kindergarten in Baghdad, a Students go to a special academy for door sign featuring cartoon characters Tom grades 1-5 and rejoin regular school in & Jerry and the prevalence of burger sixth grade. stands sporting their image welcomes chilThere are no organized sports teams pit- dren into a freshly painted art room. ting one high school against another, no Art education, like music, is rare
A teacher in a classroom in Saab al Bor, Iraq.