Iraq school crisis: `Future is at risk'

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Iraq school crisis: `Future is at risk'

By RAVI NESSMAN, Associated Press Writer Mon May 14, 3:45 PM ET

BAGHDAD - Saif Abdul-Karim's path to school is often blocked by car bombings and gunbattles. Many of his teachers have quit. Most of his classmates have dropped out, fearing abduction.

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The security situation is so shaky that some schools have canceled graduation ceremonies and many have closed for weeks at a time. Education officials are in talks with the security services, tribal leaders and politicians to ensure schools are protected when students take final exams next month.

The education crisis mirrors the breakdown of nearly all public institutions across Iraq.

Educators fear, however, that the collapse in schooling will have some of the deepest repercussions for the country, leaving a generation with little education and little hope.

"Iraq's future is at risk," said Waleed Hussein, the spokesman for the Education Ministry. "Its children are prevented from getting educated just as the country is in dire need of moving forward."

Abdul-Karim, a 17-year-old high school senior, senses his envy of American students deepening as the war in his homeland rages. "They can get and do many things, while here we are living in a tragedy," he said.

Students and educators in Baghdad and in other violence-plagued areas of the country tell harrowing stories of the challenges they face trying to reach graduation day.

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