Analysis of Education Needs (January 2008)

Violence and insecurity have lead to an education crisis in Iraq. Access to education has beenlimited by security, school closures, and a large-scale exodus of teaching staff, particularly incentral Iraq.The critical needs in education are:Immediate access to education. The Ministry of Education’s figures demonstrate that only28% of Iraq’s graduation-aged population sat exams in 2007. In many areas, safe access toschool is hampered by continued violence, roadblocks, etc.Increased enrolment of female students. In southern provinces, the ratio of girls to boys inprimary school has dropped from 2:3 in 2005/6 to 1:4 in 2006/7.Improvement of school facilities. A large number of schools are damaged and not functioning.Qualified, professional teachers. A large group of professionally qualified teachers have leftthe country or have been killed in targeted attacks.Psychosocial support. Current psychosocial support is not adequate for children and youthexposed to violence.Increased numbers of classrooms. Areas hosting large numbers of IDPs or areas whereschools are used for other purposes (schools occupied by the military forces), lack sufficientnumbers of classrooms, resulting in multiple shifts. Reduced school hours and large studentpopulations have affected the quality of education and effective classroom managementleading to increased risk of violence at school.Appropriate language taught in schools. There are not enough schools in the North providingArabic language instruction.Assistance to street children. There are reports of increased numbers of street children incities throughout Iraq, especially Baghdad and Erbil.Preliminary reports from theMoE on enrolment in the2006/2007academicyearindicate low enrolment and asignificant drop compared withprevious years. Dropout rateswere highest in Ninewa, certainareas of Baghdad, Anbar, Erbiland Missan.LevelKindergartenPrimary School(grade 1-6)Secondary SchoolSchool EnrolmentRate0.06%46% (NER)46% (male 53%,female 34%)(GER)Drop out rates