Ten years later, the signs of change at one Iraqi elementary school are everywhere
|
ADVERTISEMENT |
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) Ten years ago, the Al-Thakafa al-Arabia elementary school had broken windows, a shortage of textbooks, and kids whose extracurricular activity was begging on the streets. Pro-Saddam Hussein slogans adorned the walls.
Today it's still a squalid place with filthy toilets and crumbling walls, but at least the teachers have chalk and erasers supplied by the government, and the kids have pencils, notebooks and satchels.
As Iraq battles its insurgency and lurches toward democracy, many judge its future by the strength of its security forces and new government. But another powerful measure is the optimism of the children at schools such as Al-Thakafa in one of Baghdad's poorest areas.
When The Associated Press visited 10 years ago, Iraqis were being impoverished by sanctions and Saddam Hussein was holding a presidential election in which he was the only candidate. In a country where free speech didn't exist, Saddam had opened the doors to foreign journalists to show off the vote, but under stringent supervision.
Returning to the same school more than two years after the U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam, the AP saw striking change.
''I don't see it as an invasion,'' said Mustafa Rajih Jassim, during a break between exams. ''The Americans liberated Iraq from the tyranny of Saddam.''
''He used to have Shiites arrested in the street just because we are Shiites, because of our religion,'' said Jassim, who is 15 but still in elementary school, making up for the years he lost when he dropped out during Saddam's rule.
The school, whose name means Arab culture, is in a district that used to be called Saddam City. Here the government had relocated and isolated many members of Iraq's Shiite majority.
Today, the neighborhood is called Sadr City in honor of the late Ayatollah Mohammed Sadeq al-Sadr, who was killed by Saddam's regime in 1999. He is the father of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who led uprisings against the U.S.-led coalition in 2004.
Jassim may see the Americans as liberators, but to many people, including the schoolchildren, it's Muqtada al-Sadr who is the hero.
Ten years ago, pro-Saddam slogans adorned the school walls. Teachers had to belong to Saddam's ruling Baath party, and the textbooks promoted allegiance to him.
Today, the words ''Saddam'' and ''Baath'' have been painted out of the slogans and a new one says: ''Yes to Muqtada al-Sadr, our Muslim cleric and leader.''
Before the invasion, when 2,500 dinars were worth $1, teachers earned about 3,500 dinars a month. There were pupils who quit school to work, or worse still, to beg on the streets.
Today, Midhal Kadhim, 31, an English teacher with 12 years' experience, says she earns the equivalent of $166 a month. Most of the neighborhood's children attend school, though some take time off to earn a few dollars in government reconstruction projects.
''Before the fall of Saddam, large numbers of students were leaving the school, and the teachers were discouraged. But now most of the kids come, and some parents even ask permission ahead of time when their kids need to miss class,'' said headmaster Walid Ahmed Ali, 42.
Not everything about Baghdad is better than in Saddam's time.
Ten years ago, the streets were generally safe and clean. Today, widespread attacks and kidnappings make travel very risky. Many streets are strewn with garbage and sometimes the burning wreckage of a suicide car bomb.
Many young Shiites, including those at the school, learn from their parents never to trust the minority Sunnis who were Baathists or part of Iraq's secret service when Saddam was in power.
They also are quick to pick up on distrust of the Americans.
''I think the Americans came here for our oil, the oil that Saddam refused to give them,'' said Hussein Abdul Amir, 11. ''When I see U.S. soldiers, I run because I'm afraid they will shoot me.''
Yet today, there is an optimism among the pupils that wasn't evident in 1995.
Amir said he feels safer walking to Shiite shrines and is happy that he can worship there.
He said his favorite class is English, a language that is mandatory beginning in the fifth grade in public schools.
Amir lives with his parents and sister in a two-story home jammed with six other families. His mother can't read or write in any language. But he thinks things will get better.
''I'm determined to be a doctor and to one day help my family buy its own house,'' he said.
