Learning in Nineveh
Students stand and recite in a renovated classroom in the Nineveh Province.
By Sarah Kittle
Prior to the first Gulf War in the early 90s, Iraq’s educational system was considered to be “one of the most advanced in the region,” according to UNESCO. Primary school enrollment was at 100% and literacy levels were high.
Education in Iraq has suffered greatly since, struggling with the fallout of war, international sanctions, occupation, and general instability. Major problems include the politicization of the educational system, uneven emigration, internal displacement of teachers and students, security threats, corruption, and a severe lack of resources.
“These schools don’t have what they need from a technology perspective,” says Juliana Taimoorazy, founder of the Iraqi Christian Relief Council. “It’s really debilitating because they’re unable to type on Word for example…everything they’re doing is by theory.”
Students in the Nineveh Plain contend with much more than too much homework or a demanding teacher. They struggle to survive in a land where teachers disappear and schools are bombed and destroyed. According to one report by Christian News, approximately 70% of schools in Iraq lack clean water and latrines.
Following the 2003 invasion by ISIS, Iraqis have been working with international agencies and foreign governments to create a framework for rebuilding the educational system. Nearly 3,000 schools were severely damaged and almost as many were looted and stripped.
Taimoorazy says that since that time, funding for Christian schools have decreased dramatically. When people are struggling to secure basic needs such as food and shelter, things like schooling take a back seat. Among other hardships they are facing is lack of funds for teachers’ salaries and a shortage of transportation for students.
Still, she says, Iraqi Christians are a strong-willed people with a deep respect for education. Often tri-lingual (Assyrian, Arabic, and Kurdish), students have families that will sacrifice to further their children’s education. “They haven’t seen anything but war, devastation, hunger, and yet they have such love, profound love for education.”
Proponents of education have been making headway in Nineveh. In 2018, the first Catholic school since 1974 opened in Basra. Earlier this year, Al-Tahira Secondary School opened in Qaraqosh (Baghdida), the largest of the 13 majority Christian towns and villages on the Nineveh Plains.
Run by the Dominican Sisters of St. Catherine of Sienna, the school boasts state-of-the-art facilities, including three science labs, a computer center, conference hall, library, and chapel, all spread out over three floors. Five years in the making, the school is one of the single biggest projects in Iraq supported by Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).
Sudent Rameel Rabu Wadi, 16, told ACN, “With buildings like this and a chance to study well, we feel we have a big future here.”