Schools in need of basic facilities face overcrowding - UNICEF

Thousands of schools across Iraq are still in need of major rehabilitation and basic facilities, while the southern governorates are facing overcrowding problems in their classrooms, a report by the Iraqi Ministry of Education (MoE) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has revealed. "The buildings used right now are very old, from the 1950s and 60s," Adel Mossa of Basra's education department in southern Iraq, told IRIN on Monday, noting that there was a shortage of school buildings. "While the number of students increased, the buildings stayed the same and the money spent on renovating schools could have been better used," he added. Hiba Adel, a teacher at al-A'lam high school in Basra, told IRIN that the school she taught in lacked basic facilities. "The school only has classrooms and blackboards. There is no laboratory, the existing one is very old and doesn't have any tools for teaching and no modern educational materials such as computers," she said. Their comments came as the MoE and UNICEF released the first comprehensive study confirming that thousands of school facilities lack the basics necessary to provide children with a decent education. The survey asserts that since March 2003, some 700 primary schools had been damaged by bombing - a third of those in Baghdad - with more than 200 burned and over 3,000 looted. For the Iraqi minister of education, Dr Sami Al-Mudaffar, the study constitutes the most reliable source of educational data for the country and was helping them to plan and monitor reconstruction efforts. According to the report, the overcrowding phenomenon was of major concern in southern Iraq, affecting mainly Basra, where over 600 primary schools were sharing buildings. Adel explained that her school was very small and they had to work in two shifts, while another nearby did three shifts, due to overcrowding. "This is very bad for the students, they have a very short time at school to absorb the subjects and we have a very short time to conduct the lessons," she said, adding that benches made for two students were now seating three. In addition, both teachers noted that pupils had to use very old textbooks, as not enough new ones had been printed. "Many books were burned and destroyed after the latest war amid the looting and destruction that took place then. Now, some students are using older books, since the new books printed are not enough," Mossa said. As a result of the recent war and following 20 years of isolation, under-funding and other conflicts, the education infrastructure in Iraq is seriously damaged and completely destroyed in some parts of the country. MoE statistics reveal that there are more than 14,000 primary schools in Iraq, but only 11,368 buildings are available, while some 2,700 are in need of major rehabilitation. Moreover, the survey states that one-third of all primary schools in Iraq lack any water supply and almost half are without any sanitation facilities. According to Ministry of Health data, more than 3,700 primary schools across the country were without a safe water supply, more than 7,000 primary schools lacked an adequate sewage system and over 4,000 had leaking roofs. UNICEF has already rehabilitated 225 schools, at an average cost of $50,000 each, and has plans and funds for the rehabilitation of 400 more, Sara Cameron, UNICEF's press officer, told IRIN from the Jordanian capital, Amman, earlier. The school buildings in the southern governorates of Thiqar, Salaheldin and Diala were in the worst condition, with more than 70 percent of primary school buildings either lacking water services, the report said. These problems were the main factors noted in the report causing a lower school enrolment, mainly for girls. "The lower [enrolment] figure for girls [1.9 million of 4.3 million pupils in primary schools] is no doubt a reflection of ongoing insecurity, inadequate access to schools, overcrowding, poor water supply and sanitation facilities," Roger Wright, UNICEF' s representative for Iraq, said in a statement.