Private education in Iraq: from solid institutions to commercial shops

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[size=52]Private education in Iraq: from solid institutions to commercial shops[/size]

[size=45]Baghdad/ Tabarak Abdul Majeed[/size]
[size=45]Private educational institutions in Iraq generate huge amounts of money annually for their owners, and this is what makes their numbers increase exaggeratedly, at a time when Iraq suffers from high unemployment rates and an accumulation of graduates.[/size]
[size=45]Observers accuse these institutions of exploiting education as a front for commercial interests, while their graduates suffer from a decline in their professional and academic levels, which puts the integrity of local education at risk.[/size]
[size=45]During the 2015-2016 academic year, Iraq recorded the presence of 544 private schools with 73,000 students, and this number increased to 1,254 private schools teaching about 151,000 students during the year 2020, while it reached 2,884 schools during the current year 2023, according to statistics from the Ministry of Planning.[/size]
[size=45]As for private universities, their number between 1988 and 2000 was only 10 colleges, and since 2004 the establishment of colleges has been accelerating despite the changes that the country has witnessed until it reached 75 colleges at the end of 2019, and includes 570 study branches distributed among departments and colleges. On the other hand, there are 35 public universities.[/size]
[size=45]Lack of professionalism[/size]
[size=45]Nadine Muhammad graduated from one of the capital's private universities last year, and attributed the reason for her studies to obtaining a low average in high school.[/size]
[size=45]After she entered the National University, Nadine was surprised by the lack of “fairness and professionalism in dealing with the officials,” as she said. This is due, according to what she explained, to “the success of many students as a result of paying additional sums, despite their not always being diligent.”[/size]
[size=45]During her interview with Al Mada, she revealed that “delay in paying study fees has its toll; Either depriving the student of taking the final exams, or expelling him from the university, and informing all professors that he will not be admitted to any class.”[/size]
[size=45]Nadine goes on to talk about what shocked her the most, when she reached the graduation stage and after excelling and getting first place in her department, she was supposed to get an appointment at the same university, and this is the context of what the university works with all outstanding students, according to what she explained.[/size]
[size=45]She continues, saying, “After I went to apply for the job, I felt a kind of procrastination in the procedures,” and after Nadine’s insistence for the job that she was promised, she was told frankly, “How can you help?”[/size]
[size=45]Education “merchants”.[/size]
[size=45]Ali Hakim (an activist in the field of education) believes that the educational process in Iraq “has lost its true essence, as it has become directed towards benefit rather than learning,” noting that “students today do not study for the sake of knowledge, but rather with the aim of obtaining a university degree that qualifies them to obtain a job.” government, if any, or to gain social status.”[/size]
[size=45]Hakim continues his words to (Al-Mada), saying, “The current time is witnessing the emergence of various teaching methods, including the use of phone programs, where some students pay amounts exceeding 300,000 Iraqi dinars to obtain ready-made videos, which are transmitted to several individuals, in addition to the spread of many Institutes and private teachers, who have become “merchants in education,” aiming for profit at the expense of the sobriety of education,” pointing out the existence of many other educational innovations, such as “selling exam cards, dividing the study material into several parts, and selling them at exorbitant prices.”[/size]
[size=45]Hakim does not agree on the model of all private institutions, as he believes that private schools or universities resort to attracting outstanding students from public schools through multiple temptations such as financial grants and providing them with means of transportation, in addition to motivating them with expensive gifts, in order to delude customers that they produce outstanding students.[/size]
[size=45]He notes that education merchants have found in the current environment “a suitable place to trade in the educational process, and to continue building more universities, schools, and private institutes,” warning of the repercussions of neglecting the educational sector, while he considered that education is a great responsibility, borne by everyone, civil society, activists in the field of education, parents, and teachers. A role in improving his reality.[/size]
[size=45]Hakim believes that “the absence of planning and the lack of precise studies to create private colleges that suit the local market’s need for specific specializations has generated chaos in the education sector that is in line with the interests of influential people and investors, which has had a negative impact on the level of graduates from private colleges and universities.”[/size]
[size=45]Ali Hakim founded the Free School several years ago, to be the first and true model of education. Hakim says that it aims to “address all the problems of education in Iraq. It is neither a private nor a governmental school, but is classified as a social school that attempts to restore education to its true essence.”[/size]
[size=45]Regarding its other goal, he explains that it “aspires to create public policies that reach the relevant authorities,” hoping that it will be a model that decision-makers will pay attention to and take seriously.[/size]
[size=45]This idea came from Hakim’s belief that real change begins in the education sector, and he launched his activities in this aspect since 2015.[/size]
[size=45]Networking[/size]
[size=45]For his part, Professor at the University of Kufa, Hassan Fakhr al-Din, says, “Private universities accommodate approximately 50 percent of preparatory school graduates, making them an indispensable part of the educational process in the country.”[/size]
[size=45]Regarding the reason why private universities receive a large percentage of students, Fakhr El-Din explains to (Al-Mada) that “governmental universities do not have the financial and logistical resources required to receive all students,” and in light of this deficit, he believes that the presence of private universities “is a solution to a major problem.”[/size]
[size=45]There is no doubt that the large number of private universities has caused a noticeable decline in the quality of local education, so Fakhr El-Din talks about some of the negative effects, perhaps the most prominent of which is: “creating inequality among students, and receiving a large number of medical department students.” He added, “This has caused a problem with the number of graduates from medical departments and some engineering departments, as they have become dependent on the needs of the local market,” adding that “the accumulation of graduates in this way has made the university degree lose its value.”[/size]
[size=45]Fakhr El-Din warns against the issue of “some universities obtaining approvals to open colleges of human medicine,” describing this matter as “dangerous, and there must be strict oversight by the concerned authorities, otherwise it will cause great harm to everyone.”[/size]
[size=45]He urges the necessity of networking cooperation between public and private universities, and activating the oversight aspect by the first party, especially after talking about the introduction of graduate studies in private universities. He also stressed the importance of implementing the twinning system between the two parties.[/size]
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