The return of child work and begging

In 1974 Iraq declared that all levels of education were to be public and free, and the following year that primary education was compulsory. Child labour was banned. During the next few years, full gender equality was achieved in primary education and positive percentages in secondary and higher education.

The sanctions wiped out this scenario. The deterioration of conditions for teaching combined with the economic crisis for families leading to a drop in attendance rates at all levels of education. Thus, although primary school (6-11 years old) was compulsory, attendance fell from 92.4% in 1991/92 to 68.8% during the first 5 years of sanctions, although gender equality was maintained. 

As for secondary education, one in four pupils dropped out so as to help the family economy, a rate of 100,000 a year. Something never seen before was that during these years it was quite common to see boys and girls in the streets or roadsides begging or working, like the shoeshines in Basra in the photo above.

To stem dropping out of school, the Ministry of Education set up informal education programmes for both sexes, which encouraged participants to go back to normal school following a period of adaptation. Specifically, the Ministry developed an initiative for girls aged 10-14 who had dropped out of school. Although it was an immediate success (the scheme attended 12,000 girls and adolescents), the Ministry was forced to close down the scheme in 1996 due to a lack of funds. A similar programme, known as «Yafeen Schools», aimed to reincorporate youths who had not finished primary education because they had started working.