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Show DAILY Saturday, March 25, 2006 HERALD Schools, studentsare on the frontline in Iraq are not een from the suffering of our It's unclear“yt the Dijla school was struck last October, THE ASSOCIATEDPR but mortar rounds aredifficult to aim. The school is located in a religiously mixed neighborhood that is home to a number of BAGHDAD,Iraq — The day began like any other at Dijla Primary School in Baghdad's posh Mansour district. Rows of students in neat gray and white uniforms gathered in government officials and other prominentIraqis. But ee of other schools weretargeted in the weeks before December parliamentary elections, when their use the courtyard to raise the Iraqi flag and sing the national an- adult literacy fell to less than 60 percent — one of the lowest rates in the Arab world. The system has been a focus of U.S. efforts to rebuild Iraq. Nearly 3,000 schools have been’ refurbished, more than 8 mil- lion textbooksdistributed and 30,000 teachers received training since 2003, according to US. governmentfigures. Al-Sudani, the education’ as polling stations put them on the front line of insurgents’efforts to derail the vote. More recently, schools have been caught in the waveof sectarian killing unleashed by the Feb. 22 destruction of a revered Shiite shrine in Samarra. was so powerful, as if heaven and earth collided,” she said. “I couldn't open my eyes be- In one case, provinces since U.S. ae invaded three years ago, * and surged since last month’s attack ona Shiite shrine, has left little unscathed — even schools. What were once sanctuaries of learning have become »places offear, undercutting efforts to rebuild the dilapidated education system left by pulled over a school bus carrying about 25 high schoolgirls in a mostly cause of the dust. I heard loud screams from the children, and a girl came into em office with her arm nearly cut off. The torrent of violence that sed swept Baghdad and sur- minister, has ambitious plans to modernize the curriculum, restocklibraries and put computers in every school. But the Dijla Primary Schoolreceived a thorough spruce-up. Walls were painted, air conditioners and watercoolersinstalled, and stu- dents got new paper and pencils. HADI MIZBAN /Associated Press Students of Dijla Primary School playin their school in Baghdad,Iraq, on Thursday. Bombs,rockets, mortars and machine gunfire killed 64 school children in the four months ending Feb. 28, alone, andat least 169 teachers and 84 other employees died in the same year, according to a report by the Education Ministry. months ending Feb.28 alone, Saddam Hussein. Bombs,rockets, mortar and machine-gun fire killed 64 school children in the four according to a report by the Education Ministry. At least 169 teachers and 84 other employ- SALE 24.9939.99 ALL SILK ees died in the same period. “We arein a society of inse- curity,” said Education Minister Abdul Fallah al-Sudani. “Schools the driver in frontof his terrified But when Sharham,61, ran upstairs after the shell landed, passengers. In another, a security guard caught a would-be what she saw was bedlam. Desks and chairs were torn to strapped to his waist as he mingled with children entering a primary schoolin a mostly Shiite neighborhood on March 14. and sandwiches werescattered everywhere, Andpools of blood stained the floor. Panicked children streamed downstairs, dust suicide bomberwith explosives Iraq once had oneof the best education systems in the Middle East, butits schools and universities crumbled under two pieces. Shoes, clothes, books and blood covering their faces. 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