| The Collateral Repair Project in affiliation with International Humanities Center Samawa School Project |
This is a secondary school for boys ages 12 through 18. The student body has anywhere from 350-400
students in it's 10 classrooms. It has a staff of ten - 4 female & 6 male teachers.
There is no running water and the school has only an "outhouse" for toilet facilities. As you can see, the
crumbling walls are made of woven mats and thin, worn plywood - letting in the chill of winter and the extreme
heat of Iraqi summers where temperatures can reach 130o F.
This school was built in 1976 and, to say the least, is in dire need of repair and improvements. No
reconstruction funds have been made available to this school.
students in it's 10 classrooms. It has a staff of ten - 4 female & 6 male teachers.
There is no running water and the school has only an "outhouse" for toilet facilities. As you can see, the
crumbling walls are made of woven mats and thin, worn plywood - letting in the chill of winter and the extreme
heat of Iraqi summers where temperatures can reach 130o F.
This school was built in 1976 and, to say the least, is in dire need of repair and improvements. No
reconstruction funds have been made available to this school.
Although some reconstruction has taken place, there are many more schools in as bad of condition
as this one which are desperately in need of repair.
Please read the articles below to learn more about the condition of Iraq's schools & the challenges
to children's education in violence-torn Iraq.
as this one which are desperately in need of repair.
Please read the articles below to learn more about the condition of Iraq's schools & the challenges
to children's education in violence-torn Iraq.
Through your generosity, the total funds needed to repair this school have
been contributed - Thank you!
We sent a small portion of these funds to begin the improvements and we were sent
photo-documentation of these repairs as they were completed. We have temporarily suspended
funding these repairs as they did not meet the quality standards we expect to justify continued
investment.
We hope to complete this project in the future once we can assure that the repairs will meet our
standards.
Thanks to Veterans for Peace, Iraq Water Project, this school now has new water storage tanks to
provide safe drinking water for its students.
Check back soon to see another school that needs your help
been contributed - Thank you!
We sent a small portion of these funds to begin the improvements and we were sent
photo-documentation of these repairs as they were completed. We have temporarily suspended
funding these repairs as they did not meet the quality standards we expect to justify continued
investment.
We hope to complete this project in the future once we can assure that the repairs will meet our
standards.
Thanks to Veterans for Peace, Iraq Water Project, this school now has new water storage tanks to
provide safe drinking water for its students.
Check back soon to see another school that needs your help
| Can you imagine the challenges the students face attending classes in this school? |
Two Recent Articles on the State of Schools in Iraq:
Iraqi children desperate to learn in ruined schools
Wisam Mohammed and Salim Ureibi - Reuters
Monday, April 21, 2008
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Even after clashes erupted in the Sadr City slum in
Baghdad, Thamir Saadoun still tried to go to school, hoping it would be open.
When he got there the guard told him to go home. That was more than two
weeks ago.
"I miss my friends. I haven't seen them for weeks, I want to play with them,"
said Saadoun, 12.
"I am fed up from sitting at home. I want to return to school to study and to be
a doctor, to treat wounded people in the future if attacks happen."
The education system in Iraq, once the envy of the Middle East, is now in
tatters.
Violence, a collapse of school infrastructure and the mass displacement of
both pupils and teachers have turned many of Iraq's schools into fetid
overcrowded ruins, jeopardizing the futures of millions of children like
Saadoun.
At the end of the 1980s, after pouring oil money into schools, Iraq had virtually
eliminated illiteracy.
But after two decades of economic sanctions and war, one third of Iraqi adults
now cannot read, Education Minister Khodhair al-Khozaei told Reuters.
"It is a problem that cannot be fixed by a magic wand. We need more than
4,300 new schools, existing schools are in bad condition and the population is
growing," he said.
No part of Iraq shows the severity of the crisis more than Thamir's
neighborhood, Sadr City, a vast east Baghdad slum with an estimated 2 million
people and more than 500,000 school pupils but just 260 school buildings,
many barely usable.
Its neighborhoods have been a battle-zone in the past few weeks, as security
forces have fought the Mehdi Army militia of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. U.
S. attack helicopters constantly hover overhead, hunting gunmen.
In many cases two or even three "schools" operate out of the same school in
the slum, using the classrooms in shifts staggered throughout the day.
Hundreds of thousands of people moved into the rapidly expanding Shi'ite
slum in the 1990s and few new schools were built for them.
"There is no balance between the continuous growth of the population and a
number of schools that is almost fixed," said Mohammed al-Moussawi, head of
the education directorate for east Baghdad.
On a recent visit to the al-Khaldiya Primary School in Sadr City, raw sewage
was seeping onto the ground from blocked and leaky pipes, filling classrooms
with an oppressive stench.
Three separate "schools" share the same 12-classroom building -- about 1,600
pupils in total -- arriving in morning, afternoon and evening shifts.
"The school is crowded and in constant need of repairs," said headmaster Ali
Abid Sulaibi. "The most important thing is the plumbing. The pupils' toilets are
closed because of the bad sewage, and there is no running water."
At the al-Fadhila secondary girls' school nearby, 50-70 teenage girls are
packed into each classroom, with three at each desk that is supposed to seat
two.
"How can they understand and cooperate with the teacher inside the
classroom?" said English teacher Maani al-Yassiri.
FINDING ROOM FOR REFUGEES
After years of violence and upheaval, 2.7 million Iraqis are displaced within the
country and 2.4 million have fled abroad, according to the International
Organisation of Migration.
Schools in violent areas have shut, while schools in safer areas have been
overwhelmed with children from displaced families.
"We are left with a simple choice. Abandon these children in the streets to be
victims of illiteracy and ignorance, or open our hearts and classrooms despite
their being crowded," said Education Minister Khozaei.
At the al-Wathba secondary school for girls in Alawi, a central Baghdad
neighborhood seen as safer than other areas, father Abu Sundus arrived with
a letter from the Education Ministry giving him permission to enroll his two
daughters.
Five days before, gunmen had sprayed his house with bullets. He decided it
was no longer safe to let the girls attend their neighbourhood school, so they
fled their house.
"My girls were comfortable in their old school. Of course they will be affected.
They were used to their teachers, their girlfriends. It is a heavy burden on
them to move," he said.
"When I was their age, education was better. The teacher was giving the best
that he could give the pupils. Now, how can a teacher do his job and while
getting paid only 120,000 dinars a month ($100) which buys just four gas
canisters?"
Yet despite all the risks and hardship, parents say their children still beg them
to let them go to school: often it is the only opportunity children have to leave
the oppressive confinement of homes in a battle-zone.
Thamir Saadoun's father said the boy wouldn't step pestering him to take him
to school, even though it was closed because of the fighting in Sadr City.
"We are afraid of snipers but he insists and going to school. He says 'I love
school'."
(Additional reporting by Aseel Kami; writing by Peter Graff; editing by Sara Ledwith)
Link: www.canada.com/topics/news/world/story.html?id=ca57cf3f-3e11-4956-a35d-09050ae36
Violence in Iraq disrupts lives and education
© UNICEF By Claire Hajaj
AMMAN, Jordan, 21 April 2008 – In recent weeks, families in Basra and
Baghdad’s Sadr City have been plunged into one of the most violent episodes
in Iraq’s recent history. As Iraq’s security forces mobilized against militia
groups, widespread clashes and curfews kept families trapped indoors and led
to shortages of water, food and medical supplies.
While life is slowly returning to normal in Basra, fighting is ongoing in Sadr
City. Life for children there has become harder and more frightening.
Addressing shortages of water and medical supplies in Sadr City are
immediate humanitarian priorities.
Clashes between militias and military forces have shut down many parts of the
city for days on end, affecting thousands. Some curfews have lifted, but fear
of roadside bombs is still keeping many families at home.
Schools should be a haven
Education is also under threat. Most of the city’s primary and secondary
schools are closed. More than 20 schools have been reported damaged in the
violence, with unconfirmed numbers of students and teachers killed.
UNICEF is calling for schools to be protected as a priority.
For weeks, Basra’s residents were unable to leave their homes to get water or
attend school. According to reports from people on the ground, some empty
schools are hosting families who have been displaced. Still others may be in
use by military forces. “Schools are a haven for children in times of conflict,”
said UNICEF Iraq Chief of Education Mette Nordstrand. “They are protected
under international law as zones of peace. No matter what the circumstances,
the only proper use for an Iraqi school is to educate and protect Iraqi
children................
......... “However, the psychological impact on children will be far harder to
heal. It is absolutely critical that they see an end to this violence and can get
back into school as soon as possible.”
-----------------------------------------
Iraqi children desperate to learn in ruined schools
Wisam Mohammed and Salim Ureibi - Reuters
Monday, April 21, 2008
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Even after clashes erupted in the Sadr City slum in
Baghdad, Thamir Saadoun still tried to go to school, hoping it would be open.
When he got there the guard told him to go home. That was more than two
weeks ago.
"I miss my friends. I haven't seen them for weeks, I want to play with them,"
said Saadoun, 12.
"I am fed up from sitting at home. I want to return to school to study and to be
a doctor, to treat wounded people in the future if attacks happen."
The education system in Iraq, once the envy of the Middle East, is now in
tatters.
Violence, a collapse of school infrastructure and the mass displacement of
both pupils and teachers have turned many of Iraq's schools into fetid
overcrowded ruins, jeopardizing the futures of millions of children like
Saadoun.
At the end of the 1980s, after pouring oil money into schools, Iraq had virtually
eliminated illiteracy.
But after two decades of economic sanctions and war, one third of Iraqi adults
now cannot read, Education Minister Khodhair al-Khozaei told Reuters.
"It is a problem that cannot be fixed by a magic wand. We need more than
4,300 new schools, existing schools are in bad condition and the population is
growing," he said.
No part of Iraq shows the severity of the crisis more than Thamir's
neighborhood, Sadr City, a vast east Baghdad slum with an estimated 2 million
people and more than 500,000 school pupils but just 260 school buildings,
many barely usable.
Its neighborhoods have been a battle-zone in the past few weeks, as security
forces have fought the Mehdi Army militia of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. U.
S. attack helicopters constantly hover overhead, hunting gunmen.
In many cases two or even three "schools" operate out of the same school in
the slum, using the classrooms in shifts staggered throughout the day.
Hundreds of thousands of people moved into the rapidly expanding Shi'ite
slum in the 1990s and few new schools were built for them.
"There is no balance between the continuous growth of the population and a
number of schools that is almost fixed," said Mohammed al-Moussawi, head of
the education directorate for east Baghdad.
On a recent visit to the al-Khaldiya Primary School in Sadr City, raw sewage
was seeping onto the ground from blocked and leaky pipes, filling classrooms
with an oppressive stench.
Three separate "schools" share the same 12-classroom building -- about 1,600
pupils in total -- arriving in morning, afternoon and evening shifts.
"The school is crowded and in constant need of repairs," said headmaster Ali
Abid Sulaibi. "The most important thing is the plumbing. The pupils' toilets are
closed because of the bad sewage, and there is no running water."
At the al-Fadhila secondary girls' school nearby, 50-70 teenage girls are
packed into each classroom, with three at each desk that is supposed to seat
two.
"How can they understand and cooperate with the teacher inside the
classroom?" said English teacher Maani al-Yassiri.
FINDING ROOM FOR REFUGEES
After years of violence and upheaval, 2.7 million Iraqis are displaced within the
country and 2.4 million have fled abroad, according to the International
Organisation of Migration.
Schools in violent areas have shut, while schools in safer areas have been
overwhelmed with children from displaced families.
"We are left with a simple choice. Abandon these children in the streets to be
victims of illiteracy and ignorance, or open our hearts and classrooms despite
their being crowded," said Education Minister Khozaei.
At the al-Wathba secondary school for girls in Alawi, a central Baghdad
neighborhood seen as safer than other areas, father Abu Sundus arrived with
a letter from the Education Ministry giving him permission to enroll his two
daughters.
Five days before, gunmen had sprayed his house with bullets. He decided it
was no longer safe to let the girls attend their neighbourhood school, so they
fled their house.
"My girls were comfortable in their old school. Of course they will be affected.
They were used to their teachers, their girlfriends. It is a heavy burden on
them to move," he said.
"When I was their age, education was better. The teacher was giving the best
that he could give the pupils. Now, how can a teacher do his job and while
getting paid only 120,000 dinars a month ($100) which buys just four gas
canisters?"
Yet despite all the risks and hardship, parents say their children still beg them
to let them go to school: often it is the only opportunity children have to leave
the oppressive confinement of homes in a battle-zone.
Thamir Saadoun's father said the boy wouldn't step pestering him to take him
to school, even though it was closed because of the fighting in Sadr City.
"We are afraid of snipers but he insists and going to school. He says 'I love
school'."
(Additional reporting by Aseel Kami; writing by Peter Graff; editing by Sara Ledwith)
Link: www.canada.com/topics/news/world/story.html?id=ca57cf3f-3e11-4956-a35d-09050ae36
Violence in Iraq disrupts lives and education
© UNICEF By Claire Hajaj
AMMAN, Jordan, 21 April 2008 – In recent weeks, families in Basra and
Baghdad’s Sadr City have been plunged into one of the most violent episodes
in Iraq’s recent history. As Iraq’s security forces mobilized against militia
groups, widespread clashes and curfews kept families trapped indoors and led
to shortages of water, food and medical supplies.
While life is slowly returning to normal in Basra, fighting is ongoing in Sadr
City. Life for children there has become harder and more frightening.
Addressing shortages of water and medical supplies in Sadr City are
immediate humanitarian priorities.
Clashes between militias and military forces have shut down many parts of the
city for days on end, affecting thousands. Some curfews have lifted, but fear
of roadside bombs is still keeping many families at home.
Schools should be a haven
Education is also under threat. Most of the city’s primary and secondary
schools are closed. More than 20 schools have been reported damaged in the
violence, with unconfirmed numbers of students and teachers killed.
UNICEF is calling for schools to be protected as a priority.
For weeks, Basra’s residents were unable to leave their homes to get water or
attend school. According to reports from people on the ground, some empty
schools are hosting families who have been displaced. Still others may be in
use by military forces. “Schools are a haven for children in times of conflict,”
said UNICEF Iraq Chief of Education Mette Nordstrand. “They are protected
under international law as zones of peace. No matter what the circumstances,
the only proper use for an Iraqi school is to educate and protect Iraqi
children................
......... “However, the psychological impact on children will be far harder to
heal. It is absolutely critical that they see an end to this violence and can get
back into school as soon as possible.”
-----------------------------------------
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