"Iraqis return to school after delay from unrest" by Sinan Salaheddin and Sameer N. Yacoub | Associated Press October 23, 2014
BAGHDAD — Iraqi students returned to school Wednesday amid tightened security as the academic year began a month late because thousands of people displaced by last summer’s onslaught by the Islamic State group had taken shelter in school buildings.
But the day was marred by violence and after sunset, car bombings in Baghdad killed at least 29 people, police said.
In the areas of northern and western Iraq captured by the extremist group this year — including the country’s second-largest city of Mosul — students are not required to attend classes, but will be able to watch lectures on state-run TV to prepare for final exams, Education Ministry spokeswoman Salama al-Hassan said.
She said that only a few schools are still occupied by displaced families and that authorities have set up trailers to be used as classrooms. She could not provide a specific number for the students, but said about 9 million attended classes last year.
Some 1.8 million people have been uprooted from their homes by the militants’ advance, with many sheltering in schools, mosques, and abandoned buildings. Last month, authorities decided to delay school to allow more time to provide the refugees alternate housing arrangements.
In Baghdad’s eastern Zayona neighborhood, hundreds of students in blue and white uniforms stood in lines in the school yard, chanting the national anthem and shouting ‘‘Long live Iraq’’ before heading into class.
The road leading to Konous elementary school was blocked with razor wire as four police officers stood guard, highlighting security concerns in a city that has seen near-daily attacks by insurgents. Nawal al-Mihamadawi, the principal, said she believed the security measures taken were enough.
Authorities said the schools would have classes every Saturday for the rest of the year to make up for the delay. But the security situation still worries some parents.
‘‘Considering the current bad security situation, we thought that the school year would never start, but thank God, my girl is attending classes today,’’ Omar Abdul-Wahab, 42, said as he accompanied his daughter to school.
Schools have also theoretically resumed inside the territories controlled by the Islamic State group. The militant group declared the start of the academic year on Sept. 9, but no students have shown up.
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Maybe if the U.S. had poured in as much money into Iraqi classrooms as they did in Afghanistan....
"In the US Bureau of Indian Education system, students at Bug-O-Nay-Ge-Shig speak highly of their teachers — “If the kids are going into a school with a leaky roof and a bad smell, that’s a value thing, that nobody cares” -- Officials at the US Department of the Interior say they are working to improve schools. But with limited funding and a backlog of repairs — the government estimates that it would cost $1.3 billion to restore all buildings to good condition — some administrators and students wonder when they will see the fruits of those policies."
Like, never. The money gets lost is a $ea of corruption in AmeriKa.
And just wait until you get to college.
