Support for 600,000 Iraqi Children Currently Missing Out on Education

Joint Workshop Held to Promote Non-Formal Education Strategies

[BAGHDAD / AMMAN, 5 April 2006] - The needs of 600,000 Iraqi children who, for a variety of reasons, have missed out on their formal education, have just been addressed in a three-day workshop involving the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the Iraqi Ministry of Education (MoE), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and other technical experts.

Participants in the workshop, which ended today, agreed on a strategy on non-formal education for Iraq’s out-of-school children – known as the Accelerated Learning Programme (ALP).

A school survey conducted by the MoE and facilitated by UNICEF in 2004 found that the net enrolment rate for primary education in Iraq was 86 per cent, commendably five per cent higher than the regional average for the Middle East.  While this would seem to represent a significant achievement, “What is of concern,” notes UNICEF’s Special Representative for Iraq, Roger Wright, "is the fact that the number of out-of-school children in the primary age group is estimated to be 600,000, of which 74 per cent are girls.”  He further observed that nearly 21 per cent of primary school age girls are not enrolled in school and that almost 24 per cent of children drop out before completion of their primary education.

In order to meet the learning needs of children aged 12-18 years who have either never enrolled or dropped out of school early, the MoE and UNICEF launched the ALP in September 2005. It currently covers some 14,000 children in 10 out of Iraq’s 18 Governorates.  The goal is to provide opportunities for out-of-school children to complete their primary education – normally a six year cycle – in a compressed three-year period.  Upon completion of this stage, children will be able to opt to rejoin the formal education system, enroll in vocational education courses, or acquire higher levels of education through distance education or alternative education modes.

Preliminary results of the programme are now available.  These cover indicators such as numbers of out-of-school and adolescent children enrolled in the ALP; decline in the number of out-of-school children as compared to previous years; the number of children who have acquired Levels I, II and III competencies (equivalent to Grades II, IV and VI respectively) in the past year; and the number of teachers involved with the programme.  The workshop took stock of progress since the launch last year, did a detailed evaluation and finalized an agreed strategy for future implementation.  Paramount in the discussions was the recognition that dealing with children of such backgrounds requires a great deal of sensitivity and the development of strategies that suit their specific context.

“Directly enrolling these children in mainstream schools may not always be possible, particularly in the case of older ones who will not be comfortable if seated with younger ones.  Also, while these children may not have attended formal schools, most of them have probably acquired essential survival skills that, in many cases, are practical applications of learning that they would otherwise have obtained in the classroom.  Adoption of strategies that treat them as merely illiterate children is unlikely to meet with any great degree of success.  Inclusion, however, of material with which the children can identify may improve retention and transition rates,” observes Maman Sidikou, the Senior Education Officer for UNICEF Iraq and Coordinator of the UN Cluster on Education and Culture. 

One of the common obstacles usually faced in any rural area is lack of support from the local community, especially for girls.  Some communities, however, have been extremely supportive of the ALP so far. Girls’ classrooms are reported to be full and there are even married students who are attending with the support of their families.

The MoE also reports that since the beginning of the school year, Directorates have received hundreds of requests from children to join these schools.  In addition, community leaders have approached the Government and UNICEF to ask for ALP schools, with one sheikh even giving his personal facilities for use as a classroom. Therefore, an important aspect of the success of any strategy for the ALP is the degree to which it involves the local community and the manner in which the community can be motivated to support it.  While considering the continuation and expansion of the ALP in Iraq, the workshop identified ways and means of further increasing the involvement of local communities in the programme.

UNICEF and UNESCO sincerely hope that despite the recent disturbing reports of violence and insecurity adversely affecting the education system, this new initiative by the MoE – the ALP – will greatly help overcome interruptions in the optimal education and training of all Iraqi children.