The Iraqi ministry of education is investigating the case of renovation of 23 schools in Kirkuk northern oil-rich province launched almost ten years ago yet halted for investigation due to delay in the process.
The foundation stone for several schools has been laid in 2013, some others were demolished to be rebuilt and others were in need for renovation.
KirkukNow follow up has found out that 80-98% of the work has been accomplished in part of these schools, others saw slight progress and few has been finished and delivered to directorate general of education in Kirkuk.
There are over 1,300 schools and nurseries in Kirkuk for over 356,000 students, according to statistics commission figures in 2017-2018.
Located 238 kilometers north of Baghdad, the oil-rich city of Kirkuk is an ethnically mixed province for 1.7 million Kurds, Arabs, and Turkmen, Muslims, Christians and Kaka'is. It has long been at the center of disputes between Baghdad and the Erbil.
Iraq’s education infrastructure is in ruins in many parts of the country; one in every two schools is damaged and needs rehabilitation, says a report by UNICEF about education in Iraq.
A number of schools operate in multiple shifts in an attempt to accommodate as many students as possible, squeezing the little learning time that children have.
“There is admin and financial investigation over the 23 schools and we are monitoring the process till decision is taken about finishing the process and delivering the schools to its administration,” said Sabah Zangana, a Kurdish member of the Iraqi parliament from Kirkuk.
Zangana said the council of ministers is aware of the case “and there are efforts to finish the process soon which will have a positive impact since three shifts attend one school building up today due to lack of sufficient school buildings and hope all will be ready for new education year.”
The new building is home for doves while we are exhausted in an old building
KirkukNow has found out that following the investigations of corruption, admin and financial allegations, the ministry of education will determine the fate of the schools.
Zewar secondary school in Rahimawa neighborhood of Kirkuk is one of the 23 schools renovated in Kirkuk. The students were attending an alternative old building in the last four years awaiting to retun back to their renovated school.
“We are attending an old school in three shifts for four years and it is useless because there is no air conditioning system and hardly, we can fit into classes,” said Hawkar Latif, a student of Zewar school which has over 500 students.
Halkawt, another student of Zewar secondary sarcastically said “The new building is home for doves while we are exhausted in an old building,” in reference to the piles of garbage surrounding the renovated building.
On September15, 2020, the Iraq’s Federal Commission of Integrity issued travel ban orders for the acting governor of Kirkuk Rakan al-Jibouri, the former Governor Najmadin Karim, and 23 other officials on corruption charges in the case of building and renovation of 25 schools.
Shamil Jawdat, 50-year-old teacher of Zewar secondary, said “please convey our unconsent to the Kurdish and Arabic education departments in Kirkuk. Our kids are lost among several schools for years due to lack of space and seats.”
Jawdat has doubted the renovation process will come to end soon. “We don’t know what is the problem. Why the schools are not finished and delivered back?”
Late August 2020, the Integrity Commission has obtained and halted a number of documents of the 25 schools in Kirkuk center, districts and sub-districts worth 58 billion Iraqi Dinars IQD (about $49 millions).
The Integrity Commission then said the documents show that the contracting company had tampered with the basic designs of the school buildings and changed their sizes, and that they also reduced the number of the buildings from 25 to 18. All without the approval of the authorities.
The acting governor then said he is ready to testify at court since the process started in 2012 while he came to office in 2017.
Kurds, whom controlled Kirkuk till 2017 when the so-called Islamic State ISIS was ousted wanted Kirkuk, 238 kilometers north of Baghdad, to become part of the Kurdistan region, which has been opposed by the Arab and Turkmen populations.
Following the defeat of so-called Islamic State in 2017, Iraqi forces under operation (Law Imposing) took over control of the disputed territories in October 2017. Kurds lost the positions of Kirkuk governor and tens of admin and security positions.
we asked to go on till investigations are over
Ali Humaddi, assistant of Kirkuk governor said the case was investigated when they wanted to build the schools in other areas due to lack of enough space in the old schools’ area “a matter considered as violation by the federal government.”
Hummadi said according to Iraq-China agreement, about 44 schools for Kirkuk out of 1,000 schools will be built in the first and 121 out of the 3,000 schools of the second phase.
Baghdad has forged a 20-year oil for reconstruction deal in 2019 to supply Beijing with 100,000 barrels of crude oil per day in exchange for Chinese investments in projects to repair Iraq's war-damaged infrastructure which requires almost 90 billion USD, including schools in 15 provinces.
Some of the 23 schools are in service, 80% of the work in some others were accomplished like Zewar secondary “where work is suspended due to investigation but we asked to go on till investigations are over and we plan to resume it next week,” he added.
