An international report advises the government to allocate 15% to the educational sector

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[size=52]An international report advises the government to allocate 15% to the educational sector[/size]

[size=45]Translation: Hamed Ahmed[/size]
[size=45]An international report recommended that the Iraqi government allocate 15% of the general budget to the education sector, while calling on organizations to help the Ministry of Education build 10,000 schools and address the deficit in school buildings. A report by ReliefWeb International, translated by Al-Mada, stated that "a study prepared by four international organizations showed that there are large gaps in the education sector in Iraq."[/size]
[size=45]The report added, "The study attributed this to a large extent to the lack of government allocations to support basic services for education, including the rehabilitation of schools, as well as the lack of qualified teachers and the lack of their number compared to the number of students with poor school infrastructure."[/size]
[size=45]He pointed out that "accumulated factors and challenges that persisted for several years made it very difficult for Iraqi children to obtain even basic education services, which caused a generation of the country's children to be left without the required level of education and they will face a difficult future."[/size]
[size=45]The report stressed that “the study prepared by Save the Geldern, the Norwegian Refugee Council, Mercy Corps, Non Violent Peace Force International, included a visit to a number of schools in the governorates of Anbar, Diyala, Dohuk, Kirkuk, Nineveh and Salah al-Din, which were damaged Lots of battles and displacement.”[/size]
[size=45]He pointed out that "the purpose of the visits is to check the gaps in primary and secondary education services to identify the challenges facing the education sector in Iraq." And the report indicated that “the study focused on key components related to the safety of education in schools, which are firstly the educational infrastructure, which includes the structural structure of the school, the provision of water, sanitation and hygiene supplies, and secondly the educational staff, which includes contract teachers and volunteers who may not receive wages, and thirdly, services Reintegration of out-of-school children. He pointed out, "The education system has been greatly hampered in Iraq in recent years, which has resulted in a generation of children and young people who will face a very anxious future."[/size]
[size=45]The report added, "While 92% of the country's children attend primary education, 22% of middle school children are out of school and 40% of secondary school students are out of school."[/size]
[size=45]The report continued, "The study shows that at the end of 2019, there were 345,000 children in Iraq who were out of school." And he warned, that "years of battles led to massive destruction and sabotage of the educational infrastructure in the country." The report continues, “In many cases, schools are not available, are no longer suitable for permanent life, or are unsafe to receive students, and there is insufficient investment from the government to restore, reconstruct or rehabilitate school infrastructure to solve this crisis in a comprehensive manner.” The report stated, “The World Bank confirmed in August 2020 that the Ministry of Education estimates the need for 10,000 new schools to address the problem of the shortage of school buildings in order to accommodate the expected increase in student numbers, and that 6961 thousand schools out of a total of 14,032 thousand existing schools need rehabilitation to be Safe and ready to receive students.[/size]
[size=45]The representative of the Ministry of Education in Dohuk was quoted as stressing the need to rehabilitate schools for the displaced and displaced, indicating that it is an urgent priority, as the available schools cannot accommodate all students. This requires modern designs to build schools and construct new schools in the camps.” The report spoke of the insufficient number of qualified teachers trained to provide a good level of education for students. He stated, "This is caused in particular by the suspension of employment cases with limited teacher training programs (before service and after service), which led to the existence of severe gaps in schools by relying on untrained volunteer teachers who do not receive wages."[/size]
[size=45]He pointed out that “there is a shortage of teachers in the country at 32% and in Salah al-Din Governorate, for example, with a need for 6000 additional teachers.” The report noted that "many students were affected by displacement and lost months or years of education in schools." He added, "This situation has worsened further with the stage of closing schools to confront the Corona epidemic." According to the report, international organizations recommend “supporting children who have left school to return to school through accelerated education programmes.”[/size]
[size=45]The report continues, "The Director of Jalawla Education in Diyala Governorate described the situation of the schools' infrastructure as miserable, and there is no maintenance and rehabilitation for the existing schools."[/size]
[size=45]And he was quoted as saying, “Many schools were destroyed several years ago in Diyala and were not reconstructed, which resulted in a scarcity of the number of schools in the province and an increase in student overcrowding in one school, which leads to a low educational level.”[/size]
[size=45]While the report quotes teachers in Kirkuk saying that, “Because they did not have enough seats and enough classes for students, they divided the students into two groups, and some of the students wait outside while the other section is inside the class and then exchange locations.” He continued, "The family of a student in Nineveh said that they registered their son in school, but he cannot attend lessons daily because of the large number of students who exceed the class's capacity and there is no place for him to sit." According to the report, students in Anbar province stated that “their younger brothers in primary schools are afraid to enter the school because of the dilapidated building.”[/size]
[size=45]The report recommends, “The Iraqi government allocates 15% of the state budget to the educational sector to fill these gaps and solve the problems that hinder the educational system in the country in terms of educational infrastructure and teacher preparation and qualification programs.” The report concluded, “The need for international organizations and donor countries to extend a helping hand to Iraq and assist it in the need to build 10,000 additional schools, according to the estimates of the Iraqi Ministry of Education.”[/size]
[size=45]About: ReliefWeb International[/size]
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