Education in the Midst of a Pandemic: A Look into the Difficulties Iraq Faces
Stephanie Dandelé, Online Staff Writer
December 11, 2020
Faced with an already crumbling school system resulting from years of conflict, Iraq’s struggle to provide education to its citizens amidst COVID-19 will be an uphill battle. With low enrollment rates prior to the global pandemic, deteriorating educational infrastructure, insufficient funds, and a newfound need to turn to online learning in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19, Iraqi students have faced difficulties that have profoundly impacted their education.
Many areas in Iraq were devastated by the war that began in 2003. The conflict resulted in a weakened education structure within the region and also caused significant damage to local infrastructure which affected many school buildings. Iraq’s war against the Islamic State which ended in 2017 when Iraq reclaimed the large majority of its territory further contributed to the devastation within the country. When regions were under the control of the Islamic State many families opted to remove their children from school because they were being taught a curriculum that the Islamic State devised which exposed children to violent and radical content and viewpoints. Many children suffered years of education loss as well as the more general effects of the conflict.
The Assessment Capabilities Project states that at the end of 2019, approximately 345,000 children remained out of school due to the violence that had occurred or the lack of access to suitable schooling. Many areas within Iraq have trouble supplying suitable education to its population as a result of a lack of teachers. Since 2013, the Iraqi Government has continuously cut spending for education. According to UNICEF, in 2015 the government allotted only 6% of its national budget to education, making it the lowest percent in the whole Middle East. With a budget this low, education will obviously be severely impacted as there are insufficient funds to support teachers, rebuild infrastructure, and provide supplies to students. As a result of the low budget, Iraq is only able to support a small number of teachers with the majority being supplied and supported through humanitarian organizations or other outside sources. Education that is provided often winds up being of subpar quality as teachers have to work to support large class sizes with no help; consequently, individual students struggle to get specific attention and aid. For example, in the region of Ninewa classrooms held an average of 40-50 students, however, some accommodated as many as 80 students.
Though private schools are available, many families cannot afford the cost of sending their children to them and have to rely on the underfunded, overcrowded public schools instead. The extent of overcrowding also puts a strain on classroom materials such as desks, chairs, and writing materials, all of which contribute to the academic success of a student.
COVID-19 has further made education within Iraq difficult as it has created new challenges that many cannot overcome. In order to prevent the spread, schools worldwide switched to online learning methods including Iraq, which implemented school closures in February. In countries such as the United States for example, many students enrolled in school have access to some form of online learning material or another. However, in countries such as Iraq where a 2018 study found that only 20% of children have a computer at home and only half of the students surveyed had internet connection, this proves to be more of a challenge. It is estimated that the measures taken to combat COVID-19 have impacted around 7.4 million students in Iraq who do not have access to online learning materials. With years of education already lost for many of Iraq’s children, the pandemic’s effects threaten to take away more.
Iraq’s children have had to deal with too many setbacks to their education as a result of years of violence and now the COVID-19 pandemic. Insufficient government support in the form of funding for education only further contributes to the country’s crumbling education system. Unless the Iraqi Government begins to allocate more funds directly to education and take tangible steps to address the gaps in children’s education that violence in the region created, many more children will continue to receive inadequate schooling or go uneducated altogether.