IRAQ: Threatened teachers fleeing the country
Iraq in turmoil
BAGHDAD, 24 August (IRIN) - "When I was a child, I dreamt of being a professor so that I could give knowledge to thousands of people in my country," said Hala Jumeiri, an engineering professor at Mustansiriyah University in Baghdad. "I fulfilled my dream - but today I'm fleeing Iraq for my own safety because violence has reached the classroom."
Jumeiri and her family are packing their bags and will leave the country in the next few days after she received threats and two of her colleagues were killed for doing their jobs.
"Gangs want to destroy the scientific minds of Iraq and with the current lack of security, even giving a low mark to a student in an exam can be reason enough to be threatened or killed," Jumeiri said.
Being a teacher in Iraq today has become as dangerous as being a soldier in action, teachers say, and it's a risk many are not willing to take.
Ever since a Shi'ite shrine was attacked last February in Samarra, 125km north of Baghdad, sectarian violence has raged throughout the country, creating a climate of lawlessness that criminal gangs are exploiting. Teachers are one segment of Iraqi society that is suffering the consequences.
According to the Iraqi Health Ministry, 3,438 Iraqis were killed in July – 1,855 because of sectarian or political violence, and another 1,583 from bombings and shootings. This is the highest number of violent deaths in any month since the United States-led occupation of Iraq began in April 2003.
Since February, nearly 180 professors have been killed and at least 3,250 have fled Iraq to neighbouring countries, according to the Ministry of Higher Education.
"The number of teachers leaving the country this year is huge and almost double those who left in 2005," said Professor Salah Aliwi, director general of studies planning in the Ministry of Higher Education. "Every day, we are losing more experienced people, which is causing a serious problem in the education system."
Students targeting teachers
Such is the prevalence of violence in Iraq, that students have started killing professors.
(There's more, here.)
BAGHDAD, 24 August (IRIN) - "When I was a child, I dreamt of being a professor so that I could give knowledge to thousands of people in my country," said Hala Jumeiri, an engineering professor at Mustansiriyah University in Baghdad. "I fulfilled my dream - but today I'm fleeing Iraq for my own safety because violence has reached the classroom."
Jumeiri and her family are packing their bags and will leave the country in the next few days after she received threats and two of her colleagues were killed for doing their jobs.
"Gangs want to destroy the scientific minds of Iraq and with the current lack of security, even giving a low mark to a student in an exam can be reason enough to be threatened or killed," Jumeiri said.
Being a teacher in Iraq today has become as dangerous as being a soldier in action, teachers say, and it's a risk many are not willing to take.
Ever since a Shi'ite shrine was attacked last February in Samarra, 125km north of Baghdad, sectarian violence has raged throughout the country, creating a climate of lawlessness that criminal gangs are exploiting. Teachers are one segment of Iraqi society that is suffering the consequences.
According to the Iraqi Health Ministry, 3,438 Iraqis were killed in July – 1,855 because of sectarian or political violence, and another 1,583 from bombings and shootings. This is the highest number of violent deaths in any month since the United States-led occupation of Iraq began in April 2003.
Since February, nearly 180 professors have been killed and at least 3,250 have fled Iraq to neighbouring countries, according to the Ministry of Higher Education.
"The number of teachers leaving the country this year is huge and almost double those who left in 2005," said Professor Salah Aliwi, director general of studies planning in the Ministry of Higher Education. "Every day, we are losing more experienced people, which is causing a serious problem in the education system."
Students targeting teachers
Such is the prevalence of violence in Iraq, that students have started killing professors.
(There's more, here.)
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