EDUCATING ALI -- TEACHING SADDAM,S LOST GENERATION

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BAGHDAD 003095

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/25/2019
TAGS: PREL PGOV IR IZ
SUBJECT: EDUCATING ALI -- TEACHING SADDAM,S LOST GENERATION
TO READ

Classified By: Henry Wooster, A/OPA Director, for reasons 1.4(b) and (d
)


1. (U) This is a PRT Dhi Qar reporting cable.


2. (C) SUMMARY. Illiteracy plagues Dhi Qar. Thirty-seven
percent of the residents of this Shi,a heartland province,
and a higher percentage of women, can neither read nor write
Arabic, according to Dhi Qar,s Director General (DG) of
Education. Coalition programs do not focus on Arabic
literacy per se. While Multi-National Forces*Iraq (MNFI)
school construction projects do address a root cause of
truancy and illiteracy, Dhi Qar,s primary school children
are dropping out at an increasing rate. Dhi Qar, which
already suffers from the highest unemployment rate in the
country, does not appear to offer economic opportunities that
provide incentives for parents to make sure children stay in
school. Aside from the oil sector, Dhi Qar is at risk of
remaining a long-term economic backwater. END SUMMARY.

ILLITERACY IN IRAQ -- LIES, DAMN LIES, AND STATISTICS
-------------- --------------


3. (SBU) Statistics on Iraqi literacy are unreliable, but
anecdotal evidence suggests the problem is worse than most of
the numbers indicate. For example, a 2006 UNESCO estimate
rates Iraq's overall literacy rate at 74.1 percent. However,
this figure appears to be based in part on 2000 data and in
part on estimates that are contradicted by other studies,
including a September 2003 UNESCO report that places the
overall Iraqi literacy rate at 40.4 percent. The 2003 report
claims the female literacy rate in Iraq is a shocking 24.4
percent. Ironically, Iraq won a UNESCO prize for eradicating
illiteracy in 1982.

THE SHIA SOUTH -- AN "AREA OF PARTICULAR CONCERN"
-------------- --------------


4. (C) Literacy statistics from Iraq's southern provinces,
which suffered heavily during three decades of war and
sanctions, are also elusive, but the available evidence is
disturbing: a 2005 World Food Programme (WFP) survey, carried
out in cooperation with Iraq's Central Organization for
Statistics and Information, concluded that nearly 30 percent
of Dhi Qar's adults are illiterate. (NOTE: The survey
concluded illiteracy rates were even worse in the neighboring
provinces of Maysan and Muthanna. END NOTE.) Dhi Qar's DG of
Education's Department of Illiteracy and Adult Education,
which tracks of literacy rates in the province, believes
things have gotten worse since 2005. The DG currently
estimates that 37 percent of the province's adult population
is illiterate.


5. (C) The legacy of Saddam's reprisals targeted at the
southern provinces after the Shi'a Ashura uprising of 1991
reverberate until today. While the education system didn't
collapse, many students were not able to go to school
regularly, and many of those who could, chose not to go, a
disturbing trend that continues today. While there are no
reliable literacy studies for Dhi Qar's young adults, several
UN reports have noted this group is even more likely to be
illiterate than their parents, and anecdotal evidence
supports that conclusion. Many PRT contacts estimate that
Dhi Qar residents aged 20 to 30 have an illiteracy rate of at
least 50 percent for men and higher for women. General Habib
al-Husseini, commander of the Iraqi 10th Army Division, which
is made up of soldiers from Basra, Nasiriyah and Amara, told
PRTOff that half his men are illiterate. In February 2009,
the UN Secretary General noted that the high illiteracy rate
in southern Iraq was "an area of particular concern" in his
annual report on Iraq to the Security Council.
Qannual report on Iraq to the Security Council.

NEW DROPOUTS -- THREE GENERATIONS OF DROP-OUTS ARE ENOUGH
-------------- --------------


7. (C) Dropping out of school is a growing trend in Dhi Qar.
The 2005 WFP survey found an increasing dropout rate among
students under 15. The Dhi Qar DG of Education told PRTOff
that one of every five of the province's primary school
students (and a disproportionate number of girls) do not
attend school. Local NGO representatives say the percentage
is higher, especially among girls. NGOs, educators, and
parents at conferences held in Nasiriyah and Suq ash-Shyukh
in August and November this year identified several root
causes of the dropout problem:

-- poverty, which forces children to work rather than attend
school;
-- security risks and tribal disputes;
-- lack of adequate legislation to compel schooling and
prohibit child labor;
-- overcrowded and shabby school facilities;

BAGHDAD 00003095 002 OF 003


-- incompetent teachers; and
-- corporal punishment.


8. (C) The conference attendees also agreed parental
attitudes toward education play a role in the dropout
phenomenon. Many parents pull girls from school to work or
marry. Others fail to see any benefits to an education
because in Dhi Qar a degree does not equal a job. The latter
concern is justified. PRTOff met with four recent graduates
of Dhi Qar law school last week. None of these recent law
graduates, described by their law professor as the best and
the brightest, have jobs in their chosen field. When asked
about their concerns for the future, the four would-be
lawyers expressed the same two fears: continued unemployment
and a victory by the Islamists. The leader of the Iraqi
Communist Party in Dhi Qar expressed similar frustrations.
The party, founded in Nasiriyah in 1934, draws many of its
members from academia and the farm and factory unions. The
leader told PRTOff the main problem now is the lack of jobs
for young people. He then asked a rhetorical question: "Are
jobs in the army and the police the kind of jobs we want our
children to have?"

WHERE ARE THE LITERACY PROGRAMS?
--------------


8. (SBU) The DG of Education complains that the Iraqi central
government does not have an effective literacy program.
However, Dhi Qar has done little itself to fight illiteracy
either. While Coalition reconstruction efforts in Iraq
include many English language programs, they lack many
programs aimed specifically at Arabic literacy initiatives.
On August 2, 2009, six years after Operation Iraqi Freedom
began, MNF-I hosted what it billed as the "first ever"
combined agency-NGO literacy conference in Baghdad. All
those attending the "NGOs Raising the Banner of Literacy"
conference were from Baghdad. Nor does help appear to be on
the way for the provinces any time soon-- Mercy Corps has
plans to roll out a USG-funded literacy program in Dhi Qar,
but the program is delayed.


9. (C) The Coalition has certainly contributed to the
development of education as a whole in Dhi Qar. Over the
years, MNF-I has built many new schools in Dhi Qar province
and refurbished many others. These projects address one
important root cause of truancy: shabby and overcrowded
schools. Nonetheless, challenges remain. Dhi Qar's DG of
Education recently told Dhi Qar's PRTOff that only 20 percent
of the province's 1,477 public schools (including its 170 mud
schools, the highest number in Iraq) are in "proper" shape.
The DG and his planning director virtually begged the PRT to
build a new primary school in ash-Shatrah's Bene Zeit area.
The squalid school, which the DG is "ashamed of", is a good
example of the larger problem facing the province and is
literally falling apart.

PRT LITERACY INITIATIVES - EDUCATING ALI AT CAMP MITTICA
-------------- --------------


10. (SBU) Earlier this year, the Iraqi Army started
administering literacy tests to its soldiers. Many of the
soldiers in General Habib's 10th Division failed the test.
Habib says that he was told failure means discharge. In July
2009, Habib asked PRT Dhi Qar's Team Leader to teach his
illiterate soldiers to read and write Arabic. Two
Iraqi-American PRT staff members volunteered to teach a total
of 40 10th Division soldiers to read and write in Arabic at
the PRT's Mittica training facilities. The soldier-students,
all Shi'a from Nasiriyah, Basra, and Amara, were 18 to
30-years old. Most were single, from very large families
(with five to 15 siblings) and were, on soldier's salaries of
Q(with five to 15 siblings) and were, on soldier's salaries of
about $400 a month, the primary breadwinners for their
extended families. All were enthusiastic to be learning to
read.


11. (C) The PRT literacy effort, designed to prevent
twenty)something soldiers from joining the swelling ranks of
Dhi Qar's unemployed, was done on a shoestring. The "advanced
class" teacher used photocopied newspaper articles. His
students made rapid progress and most will be able to pass
the IA test with relative ease. The "beginner class" teacher
used photocopies of three dog-eared adult literacy books
provided by the DG of Education. He had a tougher task, but
the dedicated students made progress.


12. (C) By September, the Iraqi Army literacy classes at
Mittica had grown to over 60 students. Then, on September 8,
only two of the 60 students showed up for class. Basim, one
of the hardest working students, reported his Brigade was
moving to Amara, and everyone else was packing up to go. But
he packed early so he would not miss class. His teacher
didn't bat an eye. He taught Basim and the one other student

BAGHDAD 00003095 003 OF 003


who showed up for an hour and a half. PRT Dhi Qar is now
working with PRT Maysan to continue the program at Camp Gary
Owen.

COMMENT
--------------


13. (C) The PRT program to teach young men at risk of being
kicked out of the army is aimed at a critical group that
could potentially feed insurgent or militia groups. However,
the PRT's teaching efforts cannot address the larger problem
of illiteracy. The comments above show that Iraqis blame
educational institutions and facilities for poor education,
but many poorer countries with worse facilities do better at
educating pupils. Experience in other developing countries
shows that if parents perceive that the economy offers
opportunities to the educated, they will be more likely to
ensure their children stay in school. Reforming and
repairing Dhi Qar's non-oil economy will probably be the
cause as well as the result of better literacy.
HILL