Iraqi schools... between government overcrowding and high private costs

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[size=52]Iraqi schools... between government overcrowding and high private costs[/size]

[size=45][You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]Millions of students in various educational levels are preparing for the next season 2023-2024, and many Iraqis carry many concerns, especially since many families have begun to enroll their children in private schools due to severe overcrowding in public schools and their poor infrastructure, which requires, in return, paying tuition fees. In addition, the suffering is not limited to those who enroll their children in private schools, as the living situation in which Iraqis live makes the school year stressful for some families, even in public schools.[/size]
[size=45]Special education expenses[/size]
[size=45]Ahmed Jassim, an employee and father of two children in primary school, says, “I am an employee, and so is my wife. We are forced to save part of our monthly income in order to ensure a good education and a good school for our son.” He added, “My son is six years old, which requires him to go to school and bear additional expenses, as the annual tuition for the private school amounts to one million and 100 thousand dinars ($833), and this means a cost of about $1,666, in addition to other amounts for stationery, clothes, and transportation fees.” To school". He confirms that their salaries barely meet their monthly needs, but he is forced to resort to private schools due to the poor condition of public schools, especially in terms of their extreme overcrowding.[/size]
[size=45]School overcrowding[/size]
[size=45]Iraqi government schools suffer from severe overcrowding, as officials in the Ministry of Education are forced to make double and triple shifts, due to the small number of schools, which has increased the need for private schools. According to statistics from the central agency affiliated with the Ministry of Planning, the number of governmental, private, and religious primary schools has reached 15,000. And 965 primary schools for the year 2017-2018, indicating that “public schools constitute 93.3 percent, private schools constitute 6.5 percent, and religious schools constitute 0.2 percent.” The opening of other numbers of private schools has increased in recent years, to increase the need for them and the interest of families. on her.[/size]
[size=45]In need of 12 thousand schools[/size]
[size=45]According to the Ministry of Education, Iraq needs more than 12,000 schools to accommodate the number of approximately 11 million students at all levels. The Iraqi government agreed with two Chinese companies to build 1,000 schools as part of a government plan to build 10,000 schools to confront the crisis and shortage of schools. Chinese companies began building schools in October 2020, according to the framework of the Iraqi-Chinese agreement, which includes exchanging oil revenues for the implementation of projects in Iraq. It extends 20 years and focuses on infrastructure projects, such as schools, hospitals, roads, electricity, and sanitation, and specifies Through the Ministry of Planning in coordination with the Council of Ministers.[/size]
[size=45]The expenses are great[/size]
[size=45]Rashid Abdul Hassan, who lives in eastern Baghdad and has four children in primary and middle school, suffers from the high bills required by the school year. “I have four children, the youngest of whom is in fourth grade, and the oldest of whom is in third grade, and they need a lot of expenses, and my income is limited.”[/size]
[size=45]Abdul Hassan was not the only one who complained about the burden of schools, as tens of thousands of families also suffer from a poor living situation.[/size]
[size=45]Grant[/size]
[size=45]It seems that the government realized the extent of the suffering that the citizen was experiencing with the start of the school year, so it allocated a financial grant to families included in the social protection network, and thus implemented a law that it had approved in 2014, granting school students a financial grant, but it did not implement it due to the financial hardship that the country experienced during the past years. And the war against ISIS.[/size]
[size=45]Deputy Chairman of the Parliamentary Education Committee, Mahmoud Hussein Al-Qaisi, said that the grant included “those with families covered by social care, and its allocations were included in the 2023 budget, and they were included in the monthly financial grant according to the amounts stipulated in the Public School Pupils and Students Scholarship Law No. (3) of 2014, and the Public School Scholarship Law No. Students of Iraqi government universities and institutes No. (63) of 2012 from the allocations of the Ministries of Education and Higher Education.”[/size]
[size=45]Study start date[/size]
[size=45]According to the Ministry of Education, the start date of the new academic year for the year 2023-2024 will be October 1. The Ministry indicated that there is a specific timetable for the new academic year, as the study period will begin on this date, and will extend until Saturday, June 8, 2024, and this period will include various educational levels in public schools and private schools throughout the country.[/size]
[size=45]School enrollment rate[/size]
[size=45]The Ministry of Education confirmed that the stability the country is experiencing has raised the enrollment rate in schools to 98 percent, noting that the student scholarship will increase the current numbers. Falah Al-Qaisi, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Education for Administrative Affairs, said, “The enrollment rate in the primary stage this year reached 98 percent, with more than 1,450,000 students, thanks to the security, social, and economic stability that the country is experiencing.” He added, “The security stability of cities increases the enrollment process in schools, and we expect to record a full enrollment rate with the advent of the new academic year.” Al-Qaisi continued, “The Prime Minister’s decision to support students will contribute significantly to increasing school enrollment, and there is government support for the education sector by equipping flights, laboratories, and central books, in addition to rehabilitating more than 2,000 schools and building examination halls suitable for students.”[/size]
[size=45]In May 2019, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) announced in a statement that 50 percent of schools “are in need of rehabilitation and restoration.” She pointed out that the lack of “schools and educational personnel in Iraq has resulted in school classrooms being crowded with students, and children suffering for education, to the point that a large number of them were forced to leave school.”[/size]
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