Education

At liberation nearly all of Iraq ’s schools were closed. By October: All 22 universities and 43 technical institutes and colleges were open, as were nearly all primary and secondary schools. Over 1,500 elementary schools had been rehabilitated. At liberation teachers were paid as little as $5.33 per month. By October they were earning 12 to 25 times their former salaries. However, the most important fact about Iraq ’s schools is that he children are no longer led through a mindless litany of praise for Saddam Hussein. Children had to sing a song praising him every day before class, his portrait hung in every classroom and every textbook on every subject had material praising him. All that is over. Although a plan to get new textbooks distributed is behind schedule for several reasons, including the terrorist murder of the UN official with whom the Coalition was working, 72 million new textbooks will be distributed before the end of the school year.