Iraqi children hope for normal school year

BAGHDAD - Boys and girls in navy blue and white uniforms giggled and held hands Sunday as they filed into dusty and often rundown classrooms for the first day of school in Iraq.

Parents and their children were hopeful that recent security gains would allow them to focus on studies after years of violence that has forced education to the sidelines.

"I'm happy that classes are starting today and pray to God that everything will be fine this year," said 10-year-old Haider Mustafa, wearing a backpack as his dad dropped him off at a school in Baghdad's mainly Shiite neighborhood of Karradah. "I hope that we have security this year that will let us study normally."

Not everybody was ready to start school. Many parents decided to wait to send their children until after the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan, which ends in early October.

Critics said the Education Ministry's decision not to wait until after Ramadan to launch the academic year imposed unnecessary hardship on the children who were trying to fast as temperatures top 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

"The time is not really right for classes. It is still Ramadan and the weather is still hot," said Abbas al-Saadi, an assistant headmaster of a school in the eastern Baghdad neighborhood of Amin.

The Iraqi education system has been devastated by attacks and fighting between U.S.-led forces and Shiite and Sunni militants since the U.S.-led war began in 2003.

Hundreds of professors and teachers were killed or fled the country, and Iraqis were afraid to send children to school amid rampant kidnappings as retaliatory sectarian violence pushed the country to the brink of civil war.

Militants were accused of hiding weapons caches in schools and many were targeted in U.S.-Iraqi military offensives against Shiite militias late last year, cutting the school year short in parts of the city, especially Sadr City.

Despite continued attacks, Abdullah Omar Mohammed was ready for a fresh start as he took his 7-year-old son Abdullah Omar to school in the former Sunni insurgent stronghold of Azamiyah.

He brought his family back from refuge in neighboring Jordan after violence dropped dramatically in the northern Baghdad neighborhood when local tribal leaders formed a U.S.-allied group to fight al-Qaida in Iraq.

"We left for Jordan when security deteriorated in the area, but we came back in December after we heard about the improvements," he said. "We hope this year will be better on the security level. We hope no explosions take place."

His son stood next to him, dressed in the mandatory white shirt and navy blue trousers and holding a bag full of new books and supplies.

The Education Ministry said more than 6 million students started school nationwide. Schools opened in the semiautonomous Kurdish region earlier this week with an estimated more than 1.2 million students in attendance.

The headmistress of the Thabat girls' school in Baghdad's Shiite enclave of Sadr City said only 150 of 450 pupils arrived but she believed more would come after Ramadan.

Hana Abdul-Jabbar said improved security had created a new problem.

"We expect that more families will be willing to send their children to the school. Thus, we think this year, we will need more classrooms," she said. "We have already sent a request to the Education Ministry regarding this."

Eleven-year-old Israa Naji greeted friends with glee as they lined up in the school's courtyard, wearing headscarves along with blue jumpers over white shirts.

"I am happy to return to school and I'm less afraid of the violence," the sixth-grader said as she sat at her desk. "I hope to receive books and stationery in the coming few days in order to start the studying."

By KIM GAMEL
Associated Press
Sun Sep 21