The disappointing results for the certificate of the 3rd Intermediate Grade in Iraq

Successful and prosperous societies are the most powerful and dominant  communities  in this world, and  the community to be   strong and well-developed, it  must be based on several elements most notably   science, without it  the human societies can not  be evolved and flourished and reached to  what it is at the present time , noting that  our religion  is always urging us  on the learning and teach others, and  the first thing that was ordered by God Almighty  to  his Messenger is a learning in saying: “Read,” Reading  means  here learning, especially learning the religion of Islam, it can not be for any Muslim to worship God Almighty without being aware of the provisions of  Islamic religion , God Almighty has preferred   the educated Muslim  (the learner)  over  the uneducated Muslim in the Koran as saying: “Say: Are those equal,  those who know and      those who  do not know  .”

The strength of society lies in its educated conscious  members  , and strength increases, the less ignorance ratio, noting that the educated  society  has consciousness and  culture that enable  it  to solve all problems no matter how difficult  they are , and education is necessary for both the boy and the girl in everyday life, it helps them to take care of children in all age phases positively and  this is reflected on their lives and their families and their community in the future effectively, and that education provides the learner with  decent job   that brings him money  from which he can meet the necessary needs away from destitution and reduction of his dignity . Educated person able to instill noble ideas, values ​​and principles in the hearts of his friends and family and community, thereby increasing their awareness and understanding of the tasks assigned to them, and increase their ability to make right decisions in many things of life; they will have a wide look for life and the future, and the skills of an educated person are the best investment to his family and his community, who receives respect and appreciation of them.

Education is working on the eradication of   illiteracy rate in the community or reduce it, and gives human being information in various fields and expands the extent of his thought   and give him the ability to innovate, invention, imagination, and creativity in many things, which increases self-confidence and protect him from fear and confrontation as the science is weapon and power.  Education fraternizes  among members of the same society, and eliminates the existing religious and ethnic differences among members of society; science alone  brings together individuals of different religions on the same school to receive the same scientific lessons, which is the same that combines black and white on the same seat, so the science and education strengthens social relations between different individuals and upgrade  their civilization , and makes them able to face all challenges, unlike the distinction which shakes  the system of society and undermine its strength.

But in Iraq, pupils, students and officials, educators in Iraq agreed on the difficult conditions experienced by the education sector in the country, especially the lack of security services, rampant corruption and deepening the sectarian mind in Iraq after 2003, reflected negatively on the progress of lessons, examinations and results, and the results of the  3^rd intermediate Grade  “the first term ” in Iraq, which was announced several days ago , is  only  a clear evidence as the  success rate reached 27.35%, while last year’s success rate for the same period of study 47.16%. The proportion of normal success must not be less than 50% but the opposite has happened, which means that there is a sharp decline in the results of this certificate, which is a real introduction to the certificate of general secondary in Iraq.

It is noticeable that the success rate  in the results of the certificate of 3^rd intermediate Grade of this year  declined  in all provinces except  the second Rusafa in Baghdad province, which reached the success rate of this year, 38.86%, while last year reached 35.57 percent, and the province of Dahuk, which reached the success rate in  this year 23.74%, while in the past year it amounted to 20.98%, and the province of Arbil, the success rate this year 29.71, while in the last year amounted to 29.11%. The following table shows the decline in success rates in the provinces this year than last year as an example:

There is no doubt that the political situation  such as the political division  in the Iraqi  political group and  in economic aspect  as the rampant of  phenomenon of corruption,  and in social aspect  such as the  emergence of  the phenomenon of sectarianism and in  security   the spread of the phenomenon of armed militias  ,and in  military  such as the emergence of the  phenomenon Daesh  noting all that reflected negatively and scary on the reality of the educational system in Iraq today  while Iraq was  in the eighties of the past century , according to  reports UNESCO ,    the best one in  education system in the Middle East, where  the proportion of spending on education in Iraq reached  6% of the total national production, and 20% of the government budget. But the march of education in Iraq declined after 1991, due to wars and the international embargo imposed on Iraq, but after 2003, Iraq has seen a setback in its education system, while the Iraqis thought that the good is coming because of the political change that took place in Iraq after the April in 2003. But the hopes quickly  have gone up in smoke and were disappointing  in  a rule  that was not democratic in every sense of the word, but a rule  depends on the sectarian and national quotas and in an environment of non-constructive  conflict  which led to the bitter struggle in the political scene  that  has cast a shadow on the nature of society which come closer to  the civil war and the violence, displacement, destruction and loss of this security  and this has an impact largely on   many of the joints of the state, services, and the nature of the Iraqi human being , including education. That education in post-2003 saw a significant failure in  its march   just like  the rest of the services noting that   the Ministry of Education  has subject to  sectarian quotas and  education involved  in its struggle and  education   rather than to be a motive and an indication of the progress of the country ,  it  has contributed to the delay of it  and  schools became  a  suffocative  environment sometimes for students and teaching in the backward curricula  no longer seeking to serve the stage for giving up their slogans and curricula devoted  sectarianism  to a national curriculum that respects pluralism and respect for human rights.

In order to promote the educational aspect in Iraq, the government must take the following actions: –

1.Ruling out  the Ministry of Education  from  sectarian quotas and the appointment of ministers of technocrats who have high academic qualifications and known of  patriotism and integrity  giving them wide powers  for  the purpose of  the reform of education  process.

2. Curriculum change in a way serving the democratic orientation and reinforcing the principle of respect for others and respect for human rights.
3. Ruling out schools from sectarian conflicts and respect for campus

4-Take care of school buildings and increase its numbers to be built in a scientific manner and within the international standards and the reduction of the phenomenon of corruption in this area.

5-Issue laws or activate existing ones in order to eliminate the scourge of illiteracy and work with the instructions of compulsory education and anti-leak case for pupils.

6. Health and physical care for pupils and attention to be paid to the cases of excellence, creativity and geniuses of them.
7. The upgrading of government education and create an educational relationship between the student and the teacher and family and reduce the phenomenon of private schools and tutoring.

Post Daesh, Iraq waits for many internal political, economic and social challenges, and perhaps including the challenge of education, it is difficult to promote it, and Iraq as a state and a society could see the outbreak of future conflicts at any moment.  Such as the Arab Kurds conflict  around Kirkuk  and the plain of Nineveh, Sinjar and the disputed areas between the region and the Iraqi government, the Sunni and Shiite conflict on the integrity of the political process and fairness of representation and balance of  political system and its different institutions. The conflict between the Shiite Shiite between  Moqtada al-Sadr and Nouri al-Maliki and the Kurdish conflict between the various components, and the conflict with administrative corruption and inflation of the bureaucratic system  and the lack of its efficiency and the issues of economic growth, reconstruction,  and so many of the challenges inside. All this reflected-and will be reflected negatively on education in Iraq and will lead to the decline of it.

The Iraqi Studies Unit

Rawabet Center for Research and Strategic Studies