WUNRN
"A
survey released earlier this year by NGO Women for Women International found
that Iraqi girls are being removed from school at an alarming rate. Three-quarters
of the 1,510 women surveyed said girls in their families were being denied an
education, and just over half said the trend began following the US-led
invasion in 2003."
Parents concerned about militia violence are pulling their daughters out of school.
By Samah Samad in Kirkuk (ICR No. 260, 30-May-08)
Thirteen-year-old
Huda Ahmed’s world was turned upside down when her classmate was kidnapped two
years ago.
The girl was snatched by armed men on her way to school in Kirkuk, and was only
released three days later when her family paid 40,000 US dollars in ransom.
Fearing harm may come to their only daughter, Huda’s parents pulled her out of
school. Often depressed, she now spends her days cleaning the house and
watching television when there’s electricity.
Huda envies her classmates and two brothers, who still attend school, and says
she is deeply conflicted about her parents’ decision. She calls it “an ugly
crime perpetrated against me”, although in the next breath, says she
understands her parents’ logic.
“I’ll go back to school the first chance I get, but for the time being I will
respect my parents’ decision,” said Huda.
A survey released earlier this year by NGO Women for Women International found
that Iraqi girls are being removed from school at an alarming rate.
Three-quarters of the 1,510 women surveyed said girls in their families were
being denied an education, and just over half said the trend began following
the US-led invasion in 2003.
In the north province of Kirkuk, where ethnic and sectarian violence have
broken out sporadically, the directorate of education estimates that about 30
per cent of girls have dropped out of school over the past five years.
Experts said that a combination of factors, including poor security, poverty
and tradition, were at play.
Daliya Mukarram, 33, a social worker specialising in education in Kirkuk, said
girls in rural areas have always had difficulty accessing education because of
strict tribal restrictions and traditions. In the 1970s, the Ba’athist
government insisted that girls in the countryside stay at school until the age
of ten.
Yet today, even well-educated parents in the region have begun pulling their
girls out of class because of the violence and instability, said Mukarram.
"The rates of girls leaving schools have soared recently due to the
deteriorating security situation and the fear that [girls] will be targeted by
terrorists,” she said.
Huda’s father, 44-year-old Ahmed Latif, said he doesn’t want her to attend
class because she could be killed or sexually assaulted, “which would be a
stain on the family’s honour”.
“I forced my daughter to drop [out of] school to protect her from gangs and
terrorists,” he said.
Her mother, Faza Mustafa, 39, said, “It hurts me to see her so sad because she
had to quit school. We want all our children to be educated and get good jobs
in the future.”
Although both of Huda’s parents are literate and value education, other
families disapprove of sending girls to study.
Nawal Hasan, a 41-year-old housewife in Kirkuk, does not allow her three
daughters – ages 9, 12 and 17 – to attend school. Hasan’s mother permitted her
to have an education so that she could learn the alphabet and write her name.
However, she dropped out of elementary school and married at age 19.
"I prefer for my daughters to stay at home,” she said. “It’s better than
if they go to school and get hurt. Our family traditions do not allow girls to
go to school…Sending girls out of the house and mixing with [strangers] will
taint their reputations and the family’s honour.”
Poverty is also driving some parents to pull their children out of school and
send them to work instead, Women for Women International noted in its report.
Nadwa Mahmood, head of the Al-Intisar girls’ school in Kirkuk, said that while
teaching staff have been flexible about attendance and the government has provided
them guards since 2006, girls continue to drop out at age 13 or 14.
Mahmood fears the consequences that a lack of education will have on the girls’
prospects.
“The issues of illiteracy will have a huge impact on the girls and even when
they get married it will have a bearing on their children because these [future
mothers] might continue the tradition of their families and keep their
daughters at home,” he said.
According to Mukarram, girls who stay at home often feel empty and depressed
and develop poor habits such as addiction to television and overeating,
Ali Ghadir, a 35-year-old writer from Kirkuk, said that girls and women are
losing what little independence they had because of the security situation. He
said an entire generation will be affected if girls continue to leave school.
“In the future, there will be a huge class of uneducated women and that will
affect their children,” he said. “These girls will spend the rest of their
lives working in their homes and will marry whomever their parents want.”
In order to combat the problem, the ministry of education is sending out mobile
teams to villages around Kirkuk to educate students who have dropped out, said
Nassradeen Abdulrahman, head of planning bureau at Kirkuk’s directorate of
education.
The ministry of education has also developed a fast-track programme to help
students between the ages of 12 and 18 who quit elementary school, continued
Abdulrahman.
Mukarram said that charities could also help increase children’s education
opportunities by providing study materials for them to use at home.
However, while these solutions may help girls pulled out of school because of
security concerns, those whose families do not value education will not
appreciate outside efforts to educate them, maintained Ghadir.
“These issues are considered family issues and the families make decisions,” he
said. “The idea is that organisations don’t have the right to interfere with
family issues.”
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