Education in Iraq

[3] However, education has suffered since the 1980s and especially the 1990s following the Gulf war, International sanctions against Iraq, the American occupation, and general instability in the country.

[7] Other statistics show that regional differences can attribute to lower or higher enrollment rates for children in primary education.

[7] Therefore, the unequal enrollment numbers between boys and girls could potentially change so that universal education can be achieved by all at equal rates.

[11] Other statistics show that regional differences can attribute to lower or higher enrollment rates for children in primary education.

[11] Therefore, the unequal enrollment numbers between boys and girls could potentially change so that universal education can be achieved by all at equal rates.

[11] This causes a disruption for children who are attempting to go to school and holds them back from completing their education, no matter what level they are at.

[11] The rates among internally displaced children continue to remain higher in Iraq Centre than other areas such as the KRI.

[14] It is generally agreed upon that before 1980, this Educational system in Iraq was one of the best in the region in addressing both access and equality[citation needed].

[15] Northern Iraq (Kurdistan) did not suffer as much due to rehabilitation and reconstruction programs organized through several UN agencies.

The National Development Strategy (NDS) contains four major areas of concentration: The major pillar above that includes the category of education is that of "improving quality of life", as "healthy citizens tend to be productive citizens that will be able to take advantage of the opportunities provided in a market-oriented economy.

"[17] The exact strategy towards education includes "investing in human capital with a focus on adult literacy, vocational training, and actions to reduce drop-out rates at the primary level".

Since May 2003, international agencies have been involved in supporting education in Iraq, but fragmented data has not allowed these numbers to be integrated into the governmental budget.

Among immediate goals were the removal of previously pervasive Baathist ideology from curricula and substantial increases in teacher salaries and training programs, which the Ba'athist regime was unable to provide in the 1990s.

The new Ministry of Education appointed a national curriculum commission to revise curricula in all subject areas.

[23] In the 1990s, school attendance decreased drastically as education funding was cut and economic conditions forced children into the workforce.

After the regime change, the system included about 6 million students in kindergarten through twelfth grade and 300,000 teachers and administrators.

Critics state that education in Iraqi Kurdistan is "overshadowed by political rivalry, media propaganda, fake patriotism, nationalist sentiments and party affiliation".

Saddam established and controlled the "National Campaign for the Eradication of Illiteracy" and the campaign for "Compulsory Free Education in Iraq," and largely under his auspices, the government established universal free schooling up to the highest education levels; hundreds of thousands learned to read in the years following the initiation of the program.

The government also supported families of soldiers, granted free hospitalization to everyone, and gave subsidies to farmers.

Iraq created one of the most modernized public-health systems in the Middle East, earning Saddam an award from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

[27][28] General trends of education during the Baathist era in Iraq (from the 1958 revolution to the deposition of Sadaam Hussein in 2003) included expanded access, decreased illiteracy, increased gender parity, and the rise of the reputation of Iraq as a centre of education in the Arab region.

[26] In terms of curriculum, emphasis was placed on cohering an Iraq nationalist identity around loyalty to the state and "a narrow ideal of nationalism that bolstered Sunni minority rule over a Shi'ite majority and large Kurdish population.

Owing to the historic emphasis on the expansion of educational facilities, the leaders of the Baath Party and indeed much of Iraq's urban middle class were able to move from rural or urban lower-class origins to middle and even top positions in the state apparatus, the public sector, and the society at large.

[citation needed] This social history is confirmed in the efforts of the government to generalize opportunities for basic education throughout the country.

Before the war, the government had made considerable gains in lessening the extreme concentration of primary and secondary educational facilities in the main cities, notably Baghdad.

[citation needed] The Baath regime also seemed to have made progress since the late 1960s in reducing regional disparities, although they were far from eliminated and no doubt were more severe than official statistics would suggest.

The universities in Basra, Mosul, and Erbil, taken together, enrolled 26 per cent of all students in higher education in the academic year 1983–84.

[citation needed] The number of students seeking to pursue higher education in the 1980s increased dramatically.

Despite the shortage of wartime manpower, the regime was unwilling to tap the pool of available university students, arguing that these young people were Iraq's hope for the future.

As of early 1988, therefore, the government routinely exempted students from military service until graduation, a policy it adhered to rigorously.