Mid-term exams delayed due to insecurity

Iraq's Ministry of Higher Education (MoHE) has sent instructions to universities across the country to cancel mid-term exams for colleges they say are in dangerous locations due to insecurity and threats from insurgents. Dr Nidal Fadhel, spokesman for the MoHE, told IRIN that the decision was taken to ensure security for students, teachers and colleges targeted by insurgents. "We believe that it's the best way to prevent insurgents from getting closer to our students. They are the future of our country," Fadhel added. According to an official document sent by the MoHE to the universities, all students from vulnerable colleges will take one larger exam at the end of the university year next June, rather than having two exams during the year. The pass level will be 70 percent, rather than 50 percent. The same situation of mid-term cancellation took place during Saddam Hussein's regime directly after the first Gulf war in 1991, when thousands of students aged between 17 and 26 were affected. Students in the capital, Baghdad, are angry with the situation as they claim that the exam will be more difficult for them to pass as they will have to revise a whole year of studies. "Our situation has become much more difficult. We will have to study much more and also face the high possibility of failing because we will need to get more then 70 percent in our exams. They could have changed the place of our exams rather than cancelling them," Hayder Adnan, a medical student at the University of Baghdad, told IRIN. Leaflets distributed in the capital by insurgents have warned people, students in particular, to stay at home over the next few days, telling Iraqis that this is a daily 24-hour curfew imposed by the Iraqi resistance, adding that there will be widespread attacks. "We will have to accept the ministry's offer for our and our students' safety. It doesn't look like things are getting better in the country," Dr Mustafa Karim, a teacher at the college of pharmacy at the university, told IRIN. Fadhel added that much time had been spent discussing this decision, but that officials reached a point where they could not prevent the cancellation of the exams. He claimed that even parents were appealing to the ministry for a solution to their children's security needs during the exams and that this was the best option for the time being. Officials from the Ministry of Interior (MoI) told IRIN they would enforce security in all educational institutions during exams and that the Iraqi police would also give guarantees to teachers. "The exams were due to take place near the election that is not expected to be a safe period in the country," Sabah Kadham, a spokesman for the Ministry of Interior, told IRIN. Last week the general director of the college of dentistry in the capital was killed at the door of the university. According to witnesses, he had been receiving threats for nearly a month. "I have been studying for my exams for nearly a month and just a week ago they cancelled them. Some students who don't understand the consequences might be happy, but I know that in the end of the year we all will suffer with this decision," Hala Abdul-Kareem, a student of dentistry in the capital, told IRIN.