Essential Services – Education
Iraqi universities opened September 25. Expected enrollment is approximated at 350,000 students.
K-12 Schools are scheduled to open on October 2 with expected enrollment between 5-6 million children.
Universities now have standardized pay scale policies and international relationships/exchanges that were nonexistent in January 2004.
Of the estimated 20,000 schools in 14,924 buildings in Iraq:
- 80 percent (11,939) need some sort of repair following the looting when the former regime fell.
- 40 percent (5,970) need major rehabilitation.
- 9 percent (1,343) are in need of demolition or rebuilding.
- The country's schools, however, were never in good condition. In 2002, the UN estimated that half of all school toilet facilities did not meet basic hygienic standards. To date, over 3,105 schools have been renovated and an estimated 4,500 new schools requiring construction.